Jones anchors U.S. to 4x100 relay gold

Marion Jones anchored the United States to the gold medal in the 4x100 metres relay on Saturday, to end a bitter-sweet competition by equalling the record number of women's titles in world championship history.

Taking the baton and a commanding lead from Inger Miller, Jones blazed across the line in 41.71 seconds and into the record books, the victory bringing her world gold medal haul to five, the same as compatriot Gail Devers.

Germany finished a distant second taking the silver in 42.32, while France claimed the bronze in 42.39.

"My job was easy, they did all the work," said Jones. "I'm just happy to leave with a victory.

"It's great to come out and be on top again.

"It's about time."

The American's return to the head of the podium was helped when the Bahamas, which defeated Jamaica and a Jones-anchored relay team at the Sydney Olympics, could not defend their 1999 world title because of to few available athletes.

Jones leaves Edmonton with golds from the 200 metres and the relay, but the championships are more likely to be remembered for her disappointing second place finish to Ukraine's Zhanna Pintusevich-Block in the 100 metres final.

The loss was Jones's first in four years in a 100 metre final, denting the triple Olympic champion's aura of invincibility.

Resilience
But displaying the resilience of a champion, Jones rebounded to win the 200 metres and was in devastating form as she roared across the line in the fourth fastest time ever run.

"Overall, I can take these championships as a learning experience," said Jones. "I came here to walk away with three gold medals and that didn't happen and I have to learn from that.

"But I'm just happy I could leave with a gold."

The U.S. fielded fresh legs for the final, with Jones taking over the anchor role from Torri Edwards and Kelli White, bronze medallist in the 200, stepping in at leadoff for Angela Williams. Chryste Gaines and Miller were the only members of the squad to run in the heats and the final.

Despite only have one training session together, the U.S. produced crisp, clean handovers that had been missing in Seville, when the team failed to win a medal after finishing fourth.

"I knew we were going to win the gold back," said Gaines. "All we had to do was run fast and get the baton around and we did that.

"It could only have gotten better if we had trained for a month but today we were nearly perfect."