Russian wins walk farce

The early leaders in the 20km walk attempted to leave the Nagai stadium track one lap ahead of schedule and had to be chased back in by red-faced officials, briefly costing them their lead.

Kaniskina went on to win in one hour 30 minutes and nine seconds with compatriot Tatyana Shemyakina second in 1:30:42. Spain's Maria Vasco took the bronze in 1:30:47.

"It was a bit weird at the start because there was a man waving a white flag at me so I thought I could go out," Kaniskina said.

"I went out and a woman waved me back and a couple of others back inside," she added.

"The white flags kept going up and down - I didn't have a clue if I was on lap three or four."

Russian world record holder and defending champion Olimpiada Ivanova pulled up with a leg injury before the walkers left the stadium. Defending champion Rita Turova missed the championships because of health problems.

Elsewhere, Latvian Olympic silver medallist Vadims Vasilevskis led javelin qualifying with a throw of 87.37 metres but Estonian defending champion Andrus Varnik failed to advance, throwing only 75.96 metres.

Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway and American Breaux Greer were among those to progress.

The Swedish duo of defending champion Kajsa Bergqvist and Emma Green were amongst those who cleared 1.94m to reach the women's high jump final.

Later, American Jeremy Wariner bids for the men's 400 metres title, China's Liu Xiang the 110 metres hurdles and Allyson Felix the women's 200.