American Bernard Lagat became the first man to win the 1,500 and 5,000 metres titles at the same World Championships with a stunning victory in the longer distance in Osaka.

The Kenyan-born 32-year-old stormed through the last 200 metres to cross the line in 13.45.87 and claim 5,000m gold after breaking a 99-year drought for his new country in the 1,500m earlier in the week.

Lagat joined Hicham El Guerrouj, who achieved the feat at the 2004 Olympics, and Paavo Nurmi (1924 Olympics) in winning both titles at a single global championship.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, world champion four years ago in Paris as a teenager, looked like he might get close to Lagat at the death but had to settle for silver in 13.46.00.

Moses Kipsiro of Uganda held off a charge from Lagat's compatriot Matthew Tegenkamp to claim bronze in 13.46.75 with Britain's Mo Farah a creditable sixth.

Lagat missed the world championships in 2003 through a suspension for a doping charge that he was later cleared of and again in 2005 due to his protracted wait to represent the US.

He has made up for it this week, though, running almost identical races to win the two golds, biding his time over the early laps and making a move at the end of the final run down the back straight.

Jeremy Wariner anchored the United States to victory in the 4x400 metres relay in the third fastest time in history for his second gold.

LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor and Darold Williamson had already all but won the race when Wariner, the individual 400m champion, took over for the final leg.

Wariner did not disappoint and stormed around the track to cross the line in two minutes 55.56 seconds and help the US win the event for the eighth time in 11 world championships.

The Bahamas quartet of Avard Moncur, Michael Mathieu, Andrae Williams and Chris Brown won silver in 2.59.18, and Poland grabbed a surprise bronze in 3:00.05 through Marek Plawgo, Daniel Dabrowski, Marcin Marciniszyn and Kacper Kozlowski.

Kenya's Alfred Kirwa Yego won the men's 800 metres final by the smallest of margins to become the youngest man to win a world title at any distance below 1,500m.

The 20-year-old timed his run to perfection to sneak past Canada's Gary Reed with his final stride and take the gold by just 0.01 seconds in one minute 47.09 seconds, the slowest winning time for the event in World Championship history.

Reed, who led the race from the outset, had to settle for second in 1:47.10, and Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy finished third in 1:47.39.

Although Kenyans have long dominated middle and long distance events, the last time their national flag was raised after the men's 800m was at Stuttgart in 1993 when Paul Ruto was victorious.

Kenyan-born Wilson Kipketer won three in a row from 1995 to 1999 but was competing for Denmark.

Reed almost pulled off an upset when he charged into the lead and took the field through the first lap in a leisurely 55.08 seconds to save himself for the sprint finish.

He was still in front when he came off the last bend into the straight and looked as though he would win before Kirwa Yego lunged past him on the line to win by little more than the thickness of his vest.

Finland's Tero Pitkamaki saved the best until last by breaking the 90-metre mark with his final throw to claim the men's javelin gold medal.

The 24-year-old former cross country skier was already leading when he launched the javelin 90.33 metres to put a gloss on his first world title.

Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen sparked the competition to life with his third attempt of 88.61 metres but Pitkamaki was next up and immediately bettered the Olympic champion with a throw of 89.16m.

Thorkildsen's 88.61m was good enough for silver and American Breaux Greer, who owns the best throw of the year at 91.29m, claimed bronze with his penultimate 86.21m.

Pitkamaki's only defeat this year came after one of his warm-up throws in Rome accidentally hit French long jumper Salim Sdiri.

Blanka Vlasic won the women's high jump to become the only Croatian to claim a medal at the 11th Championships.

The 23-year-old from Split won the competition with a best clearance of 2.05 metres when her last two remaining rivals failed at the same height.

Russia's Anna Chicherova and Antonietta Di Martino of Italy finished tied for second after clearing 2:03.

Vlasic, twice world junior champion, secured her first major title at senior level before failing with three attempts to set a new world record at 2.10.

Reuters