Carolina Kluft won an unprecedented third consecutive world
championships title of heptathlon?in Osaka?on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Swedish girl collected 7,032 points after two
days of competition.
"I can't explain, I'm so happy," she said, "There's no end of
happiness. I'm just thrilled with victory."
Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska was a distant second with 6,832
points, while Briton Kelly Sotherton was third with 6,510
points.
Kluft's 13.15 seconds in 100m hurdles and a 1.95 clearance in
high jump were her personal bests, while her 14.81m effort in shot
put and 23.38 seconds in 200m were her season's bests.
As an unbeatable Heptathlon figure, Kluft's dominance was clear
after the first day with a 4,162 point tally, 148 points ahead of
Blonska. It was also 19 points ahead of the pace that carried her
to a personal best 7,001 in Paris four years ago.
"To achieve a personal best was my biggest motivation and the
European record is a great bonus."
Since July 2001, Kluft never tasted defeat. She swept almost all
of the big titles to show she is without rival.
According to the IAAF statistics, she won 13 gold medals and two
bronze in 16 major championship competitions and has 18 successive
heptathlon wins from 2001 to 2007 and three successive indoor
pentathlon wins from 2003 to 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2007)