The women's Shot Put final was dominated by Eastern Europeans this evening, with the victor being world leader, Svetlana KRIVELYOVA (RUS) with a distance of 20.63m.
The 1992 Olympic champion set up an early lead and whilst the gold medal was by no means secured, Krivelyova improved with each throw in the first three rounds, stretching out to a 27cm lead by the half way mark.
Her fourth round put sailed out to 20.63m, 14cm below her season's best, to make victory look more certain.
The battle for the silver medal was much less predictable, with Belarussian Nadezhda OSTAPCHUK and Vita PAVLYSH(UKR) outdoing each other in each round.
First it was the 2001 World Championship bronze medallist, Pavlysh, throwing a season's best 20.03m to overtake Ostapchuk in the third round. Answering the challenge, the leading qualifier Ostapchuk, put a personal best of 20.12m two rounds later to clinch silver.
Pavlysh, who returned from a two-year ban in 2001, had to settle for bronze when she improved only slightly, with a fifth round effort of 20.08m.
Landing a fair distance behind the medallists was another Russian, Irina KORZHANENKO (19.17m) and New Zealand youngster Valerie ADAMS. The talented Kiwi recorded 18.65m early and briefly held second position, but could not sustain any momentum going into the final three rounds.