Germany win gold on final day

Katharina Molitor won javelin gold with the final throw of the competition to deny hosts China their second title of the world championships.

The 31-year-old, who had never previously won a medal at a major championships, recorded a throw of 67.69 meters with her sixth and final effort. That relegated China's Lyu Huihui, who had posted an Asian record 66.13m, to the silver medal position, disappointing a noisy crowd at the Bird's Nest Stadium.

"I've always dreamed of wearing a medal, no matter what sort," Molitor told reporters. "Today is a perfect day."

Molitor's gold is Germany's second of the championships, after Christina Schwanitz won the shot put gold eight days ago. The German team leaves China with a total of eight medals, including three silvers and three bronzes.

Relay gold for US and Jamaica

Veteran Lashawn Merritt displayed all his experience in anchoring the United States to a sixth consecutive victory in the men's world 4x400 metres relay. This came just after Jamaica had stunned the Olympic champion United States women's team to capture in that discipline.

Canada's Derek Drouin won the men's high jump with a 2.34-meter effort in a sudden-death finale. Drouin went into a jump-off with defending champion Bogdan Bondarenko of Ukraine and China's Zhang Guowei after all three had no failed attempts up to 2.33 meters and none were able to clear 2.36.

The bar was lowered to 2.34. 25-year-old Drouin went first and cleared it - Bondarenko and Zhang both came up short and shared the silver medal.

apc/jc (AP, SID)