Williams snatches gold in men's high jump at Daegu

Jesse Williams of the United States took the gold medal of the men's high jump with a clearance of 2.35 meters on Thursday night at the Daegu World Championships. Williams, at 28, failed all the three attempts to clear 2.37m. But he cleared the bar heights of 2.20m, 2.25m, 2.29m, 2.32m and 2.35m all with a first-time attempt. Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia, at 27, won the silver medal, also with a clearance of 2.35m. But he made it in the second attempt when the bar was set at 2.35m. Trevor Barry of the Bahamas took the bronze with a leap of 2.32m, which is also his personal best. His previous personal best is 2.28 meters, achieved at the Central American and Caribbean Championships this year. Zhang Guowei of China, who sneaked into the final with a personal best leap of 2.31 meters during Tuesday's qualification, failed in all his three attempts to clear 2.29m. Zhang finished the 10th place of the 13 jumpers in the final. In Thursday's final, seven jumpers cleared the bar height at 2.32m, a new record for this event in the history of 13 IAAF World Championships since 1983. Previously, the one in Rome in 1987 had seen six high jumpers clearing 2.32m in the final.