Kelli White of the United States achieved the much sought-after golden sprint double at the ninth World Athletics Championships in Paris on Thursday evening, when she won the 200m final quite comfortably in 22.05 seconds.

White was second off the blocks, after compatriot and 100m silver medallist Torri Edwards, but quickly shot ahead and finished well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Edwards, in fact, was also overtaken by Russian Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, who was seventh off the blocks, but made up a lot of ground to grab the silver medal in 22.38s.

Edwards had to be content with the bronze, finishing in 22.47s.

White thus become the sixth woman, fourth from America, to achieve the double at a major world event.

The others were Wilma Rudolph at the Rome Olympics in 1960, Silke Gladisch-Moeller of East Germany at the second World Athletics Championships in Rome in 1987, Florence Griffith-Joyner at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, Katrin Krabbe of Germany at the third World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 1991, and Marion Jones at the Sydney Olympics 2000.

Muriel Hurtis of France and defending champion Zhanna Block of the Ukraine, who were expected to give White a run for her money, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Hurtis, who was third off the blocks, breasted the tape in 22.59s while Block turned in a rather poor performance, being the last out on the track and finishing in 22.92s.

Beverley McDonald of Jamaica finished sixth in 22.95s, followed by Natalya Safronnikova of Belarus in 22.98s and Anzhela Kravchenko of the Ukraine in 23.00s.

Photograph: Getty Images