Second biggest jump of all time gives Christian Taylor gold in triple jump

The American produced the huge jump at his final attempt to win the gold medal by some distance.

His jump was just 8cm short of the world record of 18.29m set by Jonathan Edwards in 1995.

Cuban Pedro Pichardo took silver with a final jump of 17.73m and bronze went to Nelson Evora of Portugal who jumped 17.52.

Edwards, who has held the world record for 20 years, told the BBC:

Meanwhile, Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk summoned up the second longest hammer throw in history to win the title for a second time.

The 30-year-old is the only woman to throw the hammer beyond the 80-metre mark and she did it twice at the Bird's Nest Stadium on Thursday, winning gold with her fourth effort of 80.85 metres. The only throw better in the history of the event was the 81.08 Wlodarczyk, who also won the world title in 2009, notched to improve her own world record at the start of this month.

China's Zhang Wenxiu delighted the local crowd by claiming silver with her best throw of the season (76.33), while 21-year-old Frenchwoman Alexandra Tavernier took bronze with her best effort of 74.02 -- nearly seven metres behind the champion.