Sotherton and Kwakye earn silvers

Britain's Sotherton put in a season's best 800m but it was not enough

12th IAAF World Indoor Championships
Venue: Palau Velodromo Luis Puig, Valencia
Date: Fri 7 Mar- Sun 9 Mar
BBC coverage: BBC TV, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBCi and BBC Sport website

Kelly Sotherton was beaten into silver by Belgian Tia Hellebaut in a dramatic finish to the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.

Sotherton was fifth after the first three events but won the long jump to move into second with the 800m to run.

She beat Hellebaut, who stumbled over the finish line, by 6.8 seconds but lost out by 15 points overall.

Jeanette Kwakye won Britain's first medal after storming to silver in the 60m in a time of 7.08 seconds.

Interview: Silver medallist Kelly Sotherton

The 24-year-old set a new Great British record in trailing Angela Williams, the American pipping Kwakye at the line.

Earlier, Sotherton was in a class of her own in the 60m hurdles as she won in 8.25 seconds, well clear of Russia's Anna Bogdanova and Belgian Tia Hellebaut.

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But she stuttered in the high jump and despite a lifetime best in the shot put slipped further down the field.

She then faced elimination after making two no jumps in the long jump, but kept her nerve to record a season's best of 6.45m and soar back up the standings.

It meant the 31-year-old started the 800m final 107 points behind Hellebaut and needed to beat her opponent by over seven seconds to snatch gold.

But, despite finishing in second in a personal best time of two minutes 9.95 seconds and Hellebaut staggering, exhausted, over the line, it just wasn't enough as she was pipped in the points total 4867 to 4852.

"It just wasn't good enough," said the 31-year-old Birchfield Harrier, "if it wasn't for two fouls in the long jump and a poor shot-put it was there for the taking for me.

"But, I didn't give it up without a fight and the better girl won on the day.

"I've got five months now to tweak a few things, get it right in my running, and I'll be flying by the Olympics in Beijing."

Meanwhile, Phillips Idowu cruised into Sunday's triple jump final with his second-round leap of 17.05m.

Another British medal hope in the field events, Chris Tomlinson, eased into the long jump final with his first-round jump of 7.95m.

Lisa Dobriskey and Helen Clitheroe both qualified for the women's 3,000m final, as did Mo Farah in the men's event.

Commonwealth 1500m champion Dobriskey clocked eight minutes 56.56 seconds in the women's 3,000m to finish fourth, with Clitheroe joining her as a fastest loser after finishing seventh in her heat in a time of 8:52.48.

Farah's performance was less impressive as he hung on grimly over the final 200m circuit to assure himself a place in his 3,000m final on Sunday.

He could not quite match the finishing speed of Edwin Soi, who clocked 8 minutes 03.5 seconds with Tariku Bekele finishing 0.01 behind, but he gave the Kenyan and Ethiopian gold medal contenders their strongest challenge by finishing third in 8:04.65.

Nick McCormick finished ninth in his 3,000m heat and failed to go through.

Mo Farah came third in his 3000m heat to qualify for Saturday's final

But there were mixed fortunes for Britain's female 800m runners.

Marilyn Okoro got bumped in her heat and muddled up her tactics to finish in third in two minutes 05.09 - which was not fastest enough to reach Saturday's semis.

However, Jenny Meadows ran a strong race to finish second in her heat in 2:00.60 and go through.

Richard Buck came second in his 400m first round heat, qualifying for the semi-final on Saturday but compatriot Steve Green failed to progress in the same event.

Over double the distance, Richard Hill hung on to reach the semi-finals of the 800m while Damien Moss did not advance.

Shot putter Carl Myerscough also crashed out while Laura Turner's 60m hopes ended at the semi-final stage.

Michael East and James McIlroy both failed to progres in the men's 1500m while Samson Oni did not qualify in the high jump after a best effort of 2.24m.