Frenchman gains global title as GB's Ashley Bryant finishes strongly with 1500m PB

Kevin Mayer won a European-dominated decathlon with a world-leading score of 8768 points at the IAAF World Championships in London.

The French athlete was a different class over the whole competition even though he couldn’t maintain his second day form to match his French record form from Rio.

His evening events were a 5.10m pole vault, a 66.10m javelin throw and a 4:36.73 1500m.

"I am so, so tired," he said after the 10 events. "I cannot even imagine I am the world champion. I just want to say this is the most amazing public in the world.

"Every decathlon is exceptional. Now I am world champion. I love this crowd, this is an amazing stadium. I feel so happy to finish this decathlon."

Germany's Rico Freimuth was second best most of the two days and a 4.80m pole vault, a 62.34m javelin and a laboured 4:41.57 1500m saw him secure silver with a score of 8564 points.

Equally clear in third was his German team-mate Kai Kazmirek. He scored 8488 points as his evening efforts were a 5.10m vault, 62.45m javelin and a 4:38.07 1500m.

Only the first three scored over 8400 points as Estonian Janek Oiglane achieved 8371 points, with a 71.73m javelin being his highlight.

Early leader Damian Warner of Canada finished fifth after illness.

Britain’s Ashley Bryant had a solid competition throughout. After a 4.30m pole vault dropped him to 17th, he rallied with a 67.97m javelin and a 4:27.15 1500m PB to finish 11th with 8049 points.

» Check out our dedicated online section here for more of the London 2017 latest and see the August 17 edition of AW magazine for full coverage