With Olympic champion Angelo Taylor opting to compete in the flat 400m only (he had run both the flat and hurdles one-lap races in less than one-hour here last year) Beijing’s runner-up Kerron Clement took his first World Athletics Final win in 48.96 here in Stuttgart.

It took the 22-year-old 2007 World champion from Osaka 380 metres to actually take the lead after veteran Danny McFarlane led up until the tenth and final hurdle. Coming off the final bend, the Jamaican fourth placer from Beijing held a two-metre lead over Clement, who incidentally is 14 years younger.

Clement closed the gap in the home straight until his approach to the last barrier proved everything but clean. The Los Angeles based World Indoor record holder at 400m recovered well and let his natural speed do the talking from there on leaving McFarlane just four hundredths of a second adrift.

"The weather was too cold, just horrible. But Danny McFarlane didn't make it easy for me. I just tried to stay with him and run him down after the last hurdle," said Clement.

Jamaicans built up on what is already regarded as a Golden year for the Caribbean island with Isa Phillips and Markino Buckley taking the next two spots in 49.22 and 49.52 respectively.

A surprise winner here last year, Marek Plawgo was never in contention. The Polish national record holder was sixth in 51.13 almost two tenths off fifth placer LJ van Zyl of South Africa.

Clement’s was the slowest ever winning time in the 6-year history of the World Athletics Final but today’s chilly and windy conditions coupled with a wet track are far from ideal.

Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF