Women's 100m - Final - Jeter finally strikes gold

Carmelita Jeter after having had to settle for bronze medals at the last two Championships finally lifted the World title she has craved for.

Since her last third placing in Berlin two years ago, Jeter has dominated the women's sprint scene which was initially highlighted by running 10.64 a month later in Shanghai which moved her into third position on the world all-time list.

Tonight the 31-year-old American and her rivals racing into a 1.4m/s headwind were unlikely to get anywhere near that mark on the Daegu 2011 track, but the presence of a highly competitive field produced a thrilling race.

Jeter proved to be a comfortable winner in 10.90 but behind her there was an intense battle between the Caribbean trio of Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kelly-Ann Baptiste and defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce before finishing in that order.

They proved the pacesetters with the finish line rushing up to them in a start list which included seven aspirants for the title who had personal best times of under 11 seconds and had all also achieved that distinction during the current summer season.

Campbell-Brown, with a very late surge, snatched the silver medal in 10.97 adding it to the gold she won four years ago in Osaka where Jeter made her World Championships debut and apart from her podium finish, running in the heat of the 4x100 relay also gained a gold medal.

The delight shone on the face of the 29-year-old four-time Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year who in a fairytale career has twice won the Olympic Games 200m title and several more top honours at a high level.

Campbell-Brown will also definitely see it as more than a consolation prize and a pay back when relegated to fourth position by fellow countrywomen Fraser (as she was then known), Kerron Stewart - sixth tonight in 11.15 - and Jeter in Germany's 1936 Olympic Stadium in 2009.

Baptiste who on that occasion was a semi-finalist in both the 100 and 200 has progressed magnificently since with the definitive highlight coming when winning last September's IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup crown for Trinidad & Tobago in Split.

Tonight the 24-year-old fought tooth and nail and the former the IAAF World Youth bronze medallist reaped rewards when with her vital last strides she managed to hold off Fraser-Pryce. But for the power of Campbell-Brown's dynamic finish would have been wearing a silver medal at Tuesday's medal presentation.

However she has plenty of time on her side and having beaten Fraser-Pryce the reigning Olympic champion at this level with a time of 10.98 by 01sec, will have received a confidence boost of the highest order.

Fraser-Pryce on this occasion may have missed a podium finish. But after a disappointing season she looked the real champion she is and was the rival who pushed Jeter so hard for the first 50 metres until the world's fastest woman for the last three years finally captured her coveted prize.

David Martin for the IAAF