LONDON, Aug. (Xinhua) -- Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk completed a hat trick of women's hammer throw world titles at the World Athletics Championships here on Monday.
Wlodarczyk, who won the event in 2009 and 2015, won the gold medal with a throw of 77.90 meters in her fifth attempt, adding the title to her two Olympic titles in 2012 and 2016.
China's Wang Zheng, who led earlier from the second attempt with 75.94 meters, settled for the silver, which is China's first medal at the championships.
Another Polish Malwina Kopron took bronze in 74.76 meters and China's Zhang Wenxiu was fourth in 74.53.
The 31-year-old Wlodarczyk, who also holds the world record of 82.87 meters, was apparently not satisified with her performance.
"This was not the performance I expected tonight," she said. "I am the world champion and that is the most important thing now.
"I expected to throw 80 meters or even a world record attack. But now I am happy for gold.
"There were a couple of serious technical problems in the final. First of all, I injured my finger during the first training session in London and it was quite painful. And I started to have cramps tonight. So it was not easy and I am very angry about myself.
"I am used to starting as a favourite and I did not want to disappoint the fans. I know there were many of them in the crowd and that was very supporting. I was just a bit nervous because of the injury. But I have to say thank you all for the support."
Wang, 29, the Asian record holder, was jubilant after securing the silver.
"I really enjoyed this competition tonight. I gained confidence in the competition and I have a very good result. I was hoping for more improvement but when I try to improve too hard, my technique is not good. I have to stay relaxed. I am confident that I will improve in the future. My technique was the only problem tonight.
Zhang, who won silver two years ago in Beijing, was very disappointed for narrowly missing the podium.
"I am upset because this is my ninth World Championships and it will be my last one. This season has been hard for me because I had a baby last year, but I am happy to end it here. I started competing at 15 and I am 31 now so it is the end of a long career."
