The French finally had a lot to cheer on the penultimate day of the ninth World Athletics Championships in Paris after a rather lacklustre performance on the earlier days.

The celebrations began when the 4x100m relay quartet of Patricia Girard, Muriel Hurtis, Sylviane Felix and Christine Arron stunned the favoured American team of Angela Williams, Chryste Gaines, Inger Miller and Torri Edwards at the Stade de France to take the gold.

Soon after, Eunice Barber gave them more reason to cheer when she won the women's long jump event with a fantastic effort on her last attempt.

The Frenchwomen, who had set a new national record of 42.04 seconds when winning the third heat on Friday, stepped up the pace still further to finish in 41.78s.

As a result, the Americans had to rest content with the silver medal despite performing a season's best 41.83 seconds.

The Russian team of Olga Fyodorova, Yuliya Tabakova, Marina Kislova and Larisa Kruglova claimed the bronze in 42.66 seconds.