Tikhon was a clear winner

Adrian Annus of Hungary won silver and Koji Murofushi of Japan took bronze.

Murofushi had started the competition as the favourite despite nursing a sore finger after a training accident 10 days ago.

He started well and looked set to improve on his silver medal from two years ago when he opened up with 79.87m.

However, Tikhon, who had been second on the annual world rankings behind Murofushi before the competition, launched the ball and chain out to 80.69m with the second of his six efforts, to take a lead he never relinquished.

Murofushi closed the gap briefly with his third round 79.99m but five throws later Tikhon responded by adding more than a metre to his lead with 81.77m

The Japanese thrower finally got over the 80m line with his fifth round 80.12 but the 2001 silver medallist was then pushed back to third when Annus dug deep and produced a last-gasp effort of 80.36.

With the competition already won, the delighted Tikhon relaxed and sent the hammer out to 83.05 with the last throw of the competition, the third-best performance in championship history.

Results:

1. Ivan Tikhon (Bel) 83.05m
2. Adrian Annus (Hun) 80.36m
3. Koji Murofushi (Jap) 80.12m
4. Andriy Skvaruk (Ukr) 79.68m
5. Primoz Kozmus (Slo) 79.68m
6. Ilya Konovalov (Rus) 78.55m
7. Vadim Devyatovskiy (Bel) 78.13m
8. Alexandros Papadimitriou (Gre) 77.79m
9. Miloslav Konopka (Svk) 75.86m
10. Stuart Rendell (Aus) 75.72m