Phillips Idowu smashed the British triple jump record to win gold at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.

Idowu dispensed with the inconsistency that has let him down on an almost annual basis since he first displayed his vast potential by finishing sixth in the Sydney Olympic final in 2000.

The Commonwealth champion has always been a fighter but on the big occasions, especially at the 2004 Olympic Games when he fouled out in the final, he has been found wanting.

Last summer, when he was among the favourites for the world outdoor title in Osaka, he finished only sixth.

But this year there has been a special buzz and his designer red hairstyle certainly drew the crowd's attention every time he stepped on to the jump runway.

The 29-year-old Londoner came of age on the global stage with a series of clearances that even legendary Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards never achieved indoors.

Idowu cleared 17.10m with the very first jump of the competition before producing a monster leap of 17.75m with the next, virtually assuring himself the gold medal.

The huge effort, the furthest in the world this year, saw him smash Edwards' 10-year-old British record by 11 centimetres and was only eight centimetres short of Aliecer Urrutia's world record.

Idowu was clearly inspired by his achievement and that was reflected when he matched his previous personal best of 17.56m in round three and then produced another world-class effort of 17.45m in the next.

He was taking no chances given the quality of the opposition, although it was not a surprise, after his physicals efforts, when he opted to skip the fifth round.

Idowu probably felt he had done enough and that former world junior champion David Giralt and last year's world outdoor gold medallist Nelson Evora were out of the hunt.

His perception proved correct as neither the Cuban nor Portuguese star could improve on their earlier best efforts of 17.47m and 17.27m respectively.

Idowu, a showman even when the chips are down, took his last attempt but clearly overdid the speed element as he tried to wipe out Urrutia's 11-year-old figure.

"I knew it was going to be hard beforehand, so I kept on going," said Idowu who received his medal from Edwards and prize money of f £20,000.

He kept a low profile in the build-up to Valencia, and admitted: "I knew that the medal had to be mine.

"The aim when I came here was to get the world indoor record and now I have to move forward.

"I wanted to see what sort of shape I was in after four or five months hard winter work and obviously it's a very good one."

Idowu played down claims the victory would make him favourite for the Olympic title this summer in Beijing.

He said: "Obviously, this sets me up very well going into the outdoor season.

"But I think there's still a few people who didn't come out to these championships who must be considered also.

"I like to be in the background until absolutely necessary," added Idowu. "I'll go home now, take a couple of days off and then get back to the hard slog."

The final day saw Jenny Meadows frustrated in a very slow 800m race, and after being impeded on three occasions, she was a spent force when it erupted in the last 250m.

Meadows, who ran a personal best and looked a potential medallist in her semi-final, faded to fifth in a time of 2min 3.51sec.

Australia's Tamsyn Lewis relished the snail-like pace and was a shock winner in 2min 2.57sec with Tetiana Petlyuk 0.09sec behind and Maria Mutola, who was chasing an eighth title, third in 2min 2.97sec.

Mo Farah could not respond when Tariku Bekele broke up the 3,000m field with 600m to run and had to settle for sixth place in 7min 55.08sec.

Bekele succeeded his elder brother Kenenisa as champion, winning ahead of Paul Koech and Abreham Cherkos in 7min 48.23sec.

The men's 4x400m relay team, after making the final as fastest losers, were never in contention and finished a distant fifth as the United States scored an easy victory in 3min 6.79sec.

Idowu's gold medal and the silvers won by sprinters Dwain Chambers and Jeanette Kwakye plus Chris Tomlinson in the long jump and pentathlete Kelly Sotherton, placed the Norwich Union GB team fourth in the medal standings.

The United States led the table, just fending off Russia, with Ethiopia's distance runners earning them third place.

Sporting Life / Eurosport