Kelli White wins women's 100 m

Paris:

The men's 100 metres was thrown into chaos by a false-start protest, Kelli White sprinted to gold in the women's dash and the Haile Gebrselassie era came to an end at the World Championships in Paris on Sunday. The victories on day two were overshadowed by the controversy in the quarterfinals of the men's 100 metres, with American sprinter Jon Drummond refusing to leave the track after being disqualified under the sport's new false start rules. Drummond lay on his back on the track for several minutes, and said he did not move as race officials tried to get him to leave. After about 15 minutes of confusion, all eight runners were led away from the starting blocks to the warm-up area. The runners from the next heat were brought in to run their race. Powell, whose 10.05 was the fastest of all the times in the first round, was also disqualified in the re-run of the quarterfinal heat. Sweden's Carolina Kluft won the heptathlon, beating France's Eunice Barber. Natalya Sazanovich of Belarus took the bronze. The European champion, just 20, finished the two-day competition with 7,001 points to become only the third woman to break the 7,000 mark. Barber had 6,755, and Sazanovich totaled 6,524. In the men's final of the 10,000 metres, the changing of the guard in Ethiopian distance running was completed when Kenenisa Bekele beat his mentor Haile Gebrselassie. Bekele, a two-time cross-country champion who had beaten the 30-year-old Gebrselassie earlier this season, pulled past him going into the final bend and sprinted away. The two hugged warmly after the finish. Bekele set a championship record of 26 minutes, 49.57 seconds, edging Gebrselassie by 1.20 seconds. Sileshi Sihine made it an Ethiopian sweep in 27:01.44. In the women's 100 metres final, Kelli White showed she will be a legitimate challenger to Marion Jones when she returns from maternity leave to prepare for next year's Athens in Olympics. White clocked a season's best time of 10.85 seconds to win her first major championship title. She will also be a top contender in the 200 metres. Another American, Torri Edwards, was the surprise silver medalist in a personal best 10.93. Defending champion Zhanna Block of Ukraine took third in 10.99. Russia's 37-year-old Yelena Nikolayeva won the women's 20 km walk in a championship record of 1 hour, 26.52 minutes. (AP)