Carolina Kluft after winning the heptathlon in Osaka on Sunday. (Reuters)

Osaka: Joseph Abraham set a new national record but failed to advance to the final of the men’s 400m hurdles at the World Athletic Championships on Sunday.

Abraham clocked 49.51 seconds, in the one lap race, improving upon his own national record by 0.01 seconds, but finished seventh out of eight runners in heat 1.

The two top finishers from each of the three heats plus the fastest two among the rest made it to the final, to be held on Thursday. Abraham finished 18th overall among the 24 athletes in the semi-finals.

Earlier in the day, discus thrower Vikas Gowda failed to make it to the finals after managing 61.22m in qualifying.

Tyson Gay sizzled and Swede Carolina Kluft sparkled on Sunday night.

American sprinter Gay streaked to his first world title by outstripping world record holder Asafa Powell, while Kluft achieved what no heptathlete had managed and won her third successive world title with the highest score of her career.

Gay’s winning time of 9.85 seconds was well outside the 9.77 world record mark of Jamaican Powell, who was also beaten into bronze position by Derrick Atkins of Bahamas.

On a balmy night in Osaka, Kluft was simply irresistible. She swept to gold by racking up 7,032 points, 200 more than silver medallist Lyudmyla Blonska of Ukraine.

In six of her seven disciplines she recorded her best scores of the year, and two of those season-bests were also career bests.

Unbeaten in heptathlon since 2002, the 24-year-old Swede fell to the Nagai track after crossing the line in the 800m to clinch the title and was immediately encircled by her fellow competitors who bowed before her in light-hearted homage.

Then she was off, lapping the stadium, soaking up the cheers and leaping hurdles.

Blonska’s score of 6,832 was the best non-winning performance in world championships history. (Agencies)