Kluft soars to new heights with record third title

OSAKA, Japan, Aug 26 (Reuters) Sweden's Carolina Kluft cemented her position as the best all-round female athlete of her generation when she clinched an unprecedented third successive world heptathlon title with a personal best tally today.

The 24-year-old Olympic champion found her best performances of the season in six of the seven events for a total of 7,032 points to remain unbeaten in the multi-sport event since 2002.

Kluft's time of 2:12.56 in the final 800 metres also gave her the European record, beating Russian Larisa Nikitina's 7,007 from 1989, and she became the only woman apart from world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee to pass 7,000 points more than once.

Ukraine's Lyudmyla Blonska finished second with 6,832 points and Kelly Sotherton grabbed Britain's first medal of the championships with 6,510 points for bronze.

REUTERS TB RN1911