Li Yanfeng of China wins the women's Discus Throw final (© Getty Images)
Daegu, Korea - Yanfeng Li, who leads this year’s world Discus listings, now has the additional accomplishment of being World champion after taking an early grip on the final which even Germany’s Nadine Muller, who had produced the best effort in qualifying, could not shake.
Muller’s final effort represented the last chance of anyone overtaking the Chinese woman’s second round effort of 66.52, and when the Samsung Diamond League race leader miscued and sent the disc well short of the 60m arc, the battle was won and lost.
The German, after a moment of disappointment, gathered herself for a final wave goodbye from inside the cage with both hands. She was World silver medallist, and she skipped over to the barrier to hug her coach and celebrate with her supporters.
Li took her final throw, but even before it was measured she too skipped out of the cage to hug her compatriot Jian Tan, who had finished sixth with 62.96 and was already bouncing up and down with excitement.
The new gold medallist then ran to her coach and followers to collect the flag that had been thrown down to her, before setting off on a lap of honour with Jian Tan.
In the meantime her final attempt went up in figures. 63.83. Her second round was the one that mattered.
Bronze went to Cuba’s Olympic silver medallist, Yarelys Barrios, who threw a season’s best of 65.73 in the third round.
Li had taken an early grip on the final with a first round lead of 65.28, to which Muller responded with 65.06 to establish herself in second place.
Muller managed 65.97 in round two, but by then the Chinese athlete had already upped the ante with the effort that eventually proved to be the best of the night.
By round three, Barrios had moved into the medal positions and the scene was set for the finale of the final three rounds, with a guaranteed new champion in prospect.
Dani Samuels, the Australian who had thrown a personal best of more than two metres two years earlier in Berlin to become the surprise gold medallist, had only squeezed through into the final as 11th of the 12 qualifiers with an effort of 60.05m, and even that distance proved beyond her on the night as she managed 58.89 and 59.14 before no-throwing and failing to make the cut of the top eight to make three further attempts.
After the fourth and fifth rounds, the situation remained broadly the same, with none of the medal-positioners improving on their performances.
Stephanie Brown Trafton, the Olympic champion from the United States, had spoken beforehand of her intention to put a marker down with her first throw to put pressure on her opponents, but she was unable to live up to that as she only reached 60.20 in the first round.
However, a fourth round effort of 63.85 moved her up into fifth place with a closer view of the podium places. It was all down to her last effort – and when she miscued, sending the disc out well short of the 60m line, the big American stepped deliberately over the line to invalidate the effort before waving a goodbye to the crowd with both hands.
Zaneta Glanc of Poland was the only remaining thrower who could take medals away from the leading trio. But her last effort of 60.32 was well below her best, so the recently established World Student Games champion had to settle for an admirable fourth.
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF
