Jonathan Edwards toasted his second World Championship gold with champagne at breakfast after admitting he had struggled with nerves during Monday night's epic final.

"I wasn't cool and relaxed out there," he said.

"I'm still beset by the same doubts.

"In the warm-up I was looking at everyone and thinking, 'He's running well,' and, 'Hmm, I don't feel too good.'

"That might have been my chance. I wondered if the big one had got away.

"Conditions weren't easy out there at all. The wind was changing and my calves were tight and I knew they could cramp up at any time."

Edwards lay behind Christian Olsson and Yoel Garcia going into the third round and seemed in real danger of becoming the second red-hot favourite of the day - after Marion Jones - to suffer a shock defeat.

Then he produced his biggest jump in three years, 17.92m, to recapture the title he first won six years ago.

Edwards, in fact, thinks he might have broken his own world record of 18.29m if his winning effort had come earlier in the competition.

With Olympic, World and European titles, plus the biggest jump in history by far, some have wondered if Edwards, now 35, will soon hang up his spikes.

But he said he would definitely be competing at next summer's Commonwealth Games in Manchester - and did not rule out another shot at Olympic gold in Athens.

"It does bring a smile to my face that I've got the big three golds," he said.

"But statistics show that I'm half a metre ahead of everyone else, and that's a huge distance in an athletics event. I've got a big buffer.

"It depends how the young lads come through and if I slow down.