By Andy Schooler, Sportinglife.com, Edmonton

American John Godina picked up his third world championship gold medal when he won the shot once again.

Godina's first round putt of 21.87m proved enough to win the competition and add to his golds from Gothenburg in 1995 and Athens in 1997.

Godina, who goes for gold again in the discus later this week, told the stadium crowd that this title meant the most, coming as it did after a four-year gap.

Despite only just scraping into the final, Godina's US team-mate Adam Nelson hit top form in the final to strike silver with his effort of 21.24 which came in the fourth round.

Finland's Arsi Harju grabbed the bronze with a distance of 20.93.

Champion Godina, who has not lost a shot putt competition this season, said: "I was very confident after my first throw and had a feeling that it could win it.

"Despite this I did not stop, because I knew that Adam and Janus Robberts could come up with something big."

Nelson siad that opening effort by Godina "hypnotised" the other competitors.

"John came out and had a huge first throw which sort of hypnotised everyone in the competition. It is really tough to respond to something like that."

He added his technique had "fallen apart" and felt disappointed at not being able to push the eventual winner closer.