Nelson Evora of Portugal was one of seven Olympic champions from Beijing to secure a World Athletics Final win on the first day of competition here in Stuttgart.

Apart from his opening 16.73, all of Evora’s efforts would have been good enough for the 30,000$ winner's paycheck today. The 2007 World champion actually secured his win in round 2 with a 17.24 mark which he backed up with 17.21 and 17.13 in his third and fourth efforts respectively, by far the best series in today’s chilly conditions.

Just like in Osaka last year, the men’s Triple Jump seemed to be a Portuguese speaking affair with Jadel Gregorio of Brazil bouncing back from a disappointing Olympic Games to claim second at 17.09.

The only other athlete over 17 metres this afternoon was Grenada’s Randy Lewis who, just like in Beijing where he did not advance past the qualification rounds, could not recover his early season form which saw him set a national record 17.49.

Today Lewis had to be content with 17.01 in third, as the 2005 World champion Walter Davis of the USA was fourth at 16.94. Slovakia’s Dmitrij Valukevic also landed at 16.94 with his last effort but remained in fifth his second best of today being three centimetres shorter than Davis’.

World Indoor champion and Olympic silver medallist Phillips Idowu did not compete in today’s World Athletics Final; according to his agent he wanted to finish his season relatively early.

Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF