Me'Lisa Barber
© AFP Yuri Kadobnov

MOSCOW (AFP) - All three of the Americans produced the best performances in the world this year for their events.

Me'Lisa Barber blasted out of her blocks and was never headed en-route to winning the women's 60 metres in 7.01 seconds.

"I knew that a good start was the key to success. It shows that there is room for improvement outdoors," said Barber, whose biggest accolade before Friday was being part of two world championship-winning relay quartets.

Her compatriot Lauryn Williams, the marginal favourite after a sparkling semi-final victory, closed Barber down from the halfway point.

At the line only the thickness of a vest, a phrase often used metaphorically but in this instance literally, separated them.

Williams was given the same time as the winner but had to settle for the silver medal, losing out by just a few thousandths of a second for the closest ever finish to a World Indoor Championships race.

Leonard Scott
© AFP Alexander Nemenov

Belgium's Kim Gevaert rose to the occasion to lead home the European challenge and get the bronze in a national record of 7.10, edging out France's highly favoured Christine Arron.

Leonard Scott's victory over Russia's Andrey Yepishin over 60 metres was almost as close as the women's contest.

Scott had a great start and was half a stride ahead at 10 metres but Yepishin was on his shoulder throughout the race.

With 10 metres to go, Yepishin had closed the slight gap but Scott found another gear to win in 6.50 seconds, matching the world-leading time he had run in the semi-finals.

Yepishin got Russia's first ever medal at the distance in a national record 6.52.

"I can't wait until outdoors. I want to show everybody what I can do," yelped Scott, laying down the gauntlet to superstars and fellow Americans Justin Gatlin and Maurice Greene, who decided to skip the indoor season.

Terrence tramell
© AFP Alexander Nemenov

The United States picked up another 60 metres medal when Terrence Trammell, favourite for the 60 metres hurdles on Saturday, hung on for the bronze in 6.54.

Reese Hoffa beat Barber to the accolade of becoming the first world champion of these championships when he won the men's shot put with a second round 22.11 metres.

Hoffa, who once wore a professional wrestling-style mask in competitions and dubbed himself The Unknown Shot Putter in a bid to draw attention to himself, had all three of his valid efforts go further than Belarus' silver medallist Andrei Mikhnevich.

"This is the best day of my career. I've now got a lot of confidence for future championships. I can't believe it, and I didn't know this was the fourth best all-time mark indoors. My gosh, 22 metres, I didn't expect that," said a stunned and delighted Hoffa.

Mikhnevich produced a personal best of 21.37 metres with Denmark's Joachim Olsen claiming the bronze.

Lauryn Williams(L) and Me'Lisa Barber
© AFP Yuri Kadobnov

As Barber also later admitted, the sight of Hoffa parading around the indoor arena draped with the Stars and Stripes was a huge motivation for her and Scott to get their golds.

The only athlete to interrupt the American gold rush was the Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska, who won the women's pentathlon with a personal best of 4685.

Blonska had victories the 60 metres hurdles and long jump and her consistency in the other three disciplines of the high jump, shot put and 800 metres was good enough to bring her home 78 points ahead of the Dutch silver medallist Karin Ruckstuhl.

Russia's Olga Levenkova took the bronze with 4759 points.

Sadly, there were few people in the Olimpiysky Sports Arena to appreciate the feat of the fantastic four winners who all got their first individual gold medals on a global stage.

Organisers had said before the Championships, which continue through to Sunday, that they expected a capacity 35,000 crowd but awnings introduced quickly ahead of the opening morning cut the number of seats to around 15,000.

Nevertheless, despite the window dressing, there were only an estimated 3,000 spectators for Moscow's biggest athletics event since the 1980 Olympics.

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