Wang Ying grabbed the third athletics gold for China from the women's triple jump, while Kimberley Smith of New Zealand broke the meet record to crown the women's 5,000 meters on the penultimate day at the Izmir Universiade here on Friday.

However, Russia still topped the athletics medals table with six golds, three silvers and three bronzes after bagging one of the five titles on offer. Ukraine took the second place with three golds, four silvers and two bronzes.

Russia's solo gold of the day came from Anna Chicherova, who won the women's high jump after clearing 1.90 meters, making her the only jumper to beat the height.

Iryna Kovalenko won the sliver with 1.88 meters, while the bronze went to German Ariane Friedrich, who also registered the same level, but cleared the previous height only in her third attemp.

Thanks to Wang Ying's gold of the night, her first-ever gold in international arena, China managed to the third place on the athletics medals table with three golds, four silvers and one bronze.

Wang, who only made her international debut, surprised herself after wining the women's triple jump by recording her personal best of 14.12 meters in her last attempt.

"I could not find any words to describe my feeling. This is the first time I took part in international events," said Wang, who was not only happy about winning the gold, but also jubilating over her personal best.

Olga Saladukha of Ukraine finished with the silver after landing to 13.93 meters, while the bronze went to Nadezhda Bazenova of Russia with 13.90 meters.

Kimberley Smith of New Zealand contributed the first gold for her country after clocking in a Universiade record of 15 minutes and 29.18 seconds in the women's 5,000 meters race.

Tetyana Holovchenko of Ukraine finished in 15 minutes and 44.92 seconds to take the silver, while Jolene Byrne of Ireland placed third in 15 minutes and 56.01 seconds.

Another Chinese woman Zeng Guang, sprinted across the finish line in her personal best of 16 minutes and 3.43 seconds, but only had to settle for the fourth place.

"I tried my best, but foreign player are much faster than me in the event, I am not disappointed, cause I made my personal best tonight," said Zeng, who had been expected to bring home a medal tonight.

African athletes demonstrated their gifts on the track by taking the gold and the bronze of the men's 5,000 meters after Ugandan Wilson Busienei clocked in 13 minutes and 38.51 seconds and Simon Ndirangu of Kenya finished in 13 minutes and 43.47 seconds respectively.

The silver went to Reid Coolsaet of Canada in 13 minutes and 39.90 seconds.

In the final event of the day, Aliaksandr Parkhomenka of Belarus proved him the strongest man after winning the men's decathlon with 8,051 pointes.

Francois Gourmet of Belgium took the silver with 7,792 points, and the bronze went to Nadir El Fassi of France in 7,724 points.

Source: Xinhua