Kelly Sotherton revealed her disdain for Lyudmila Blonska after she finished third in the heptathlon at the World Championships behind the Ukrainian who has returned to the sport following a failed drugs test.

The Birchfield Harrier added the World Championships medal to the 2006 Commonwealth Games title and Olympic bronze she won in Athens after recovering from a poor javelin to secure the required points in the 800metres.

Defending champion Carolina Kluft claimed a third consecutive world crown after producing a champion's display to set a new European record with a total of 7032 - 200 points clear of Blonska, who set a new national record.

Sotherton was delighted to post a season's best 6510 to edge out team-mate Jessica Ennis by 41 points, but was quick to point the finger at 2006 World Indoor champion Blonska.

Blonska was handed a two-year ban in June 2003 after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

"I think you can see by the reactions from the other athletes that we are not interested when she is there, we don't support cheats," said Sotherton.

"She has cheated once, who say's she is not cheating again. It tarnishes our event and we don't support it in our event, that's why she does not get the support.

"We would rather see Kluft win because we support her, we know that she is clean and we want her to win as we will always support the clean athletes.

"I don't know if I feel cheated, we will find out in a few months. Hopefully she is clean, but you want to beat people who are dirty to prove that it is not worth cheating anyway. I shook her hand, everybody shakes each other's hand, but it's just a sportsmanly thing that you do."

Sotherton headed into the final event trailing Austra Skujyte by 37 points and needing a winning margin of 2.5 seconds after managing just 31.90m in the javelin.

But she always looked comfortable and finished second behind a determined Ennis in two minutes 11.39 seconds with the Lithuanian finishing a distant last.

"I would be happier if I had thrown 40m in the javelin, but I am pleased that my poor javelin did not let me down and I proved everybody wrong because I think they expected somebody else to win a bronze medal," added Sotherton.

"I have proved I can win a World Championship medal because this may be my last heptathlon at a World Championships and I am pleased that I have proved to myself that I have the ability to win a medal at this level.

"I had a fantastic long jump today, I held my nerve after a no jump to get a 6.68 and then the 800 was a lot harder than I thought, I expected to run faster but if it wasn't for Jess in that last 100m I probably would have wilted back another 100m.

"It has been the toughest heptathlon and probably the most emotional because I have worked hard for this. In Athens Skujyte beat me by seven points, I had to beat her by four seconds and I only did it by three and a half so I wasn't going to let that happen again. I am always confident that if I have a chance going into the 800 I will have a chance of a medal."

Team-mate Ennis was delighted to cap off a stunning season for the Sheffield woman with a fourth place, but admitted it could have been a lot more had the 21-year-old not produced a disastrous 11.93m in the shot putt on the opening day.

The setback, combined with an equally disappointing javelin, left Ennis with too much to do in the 800m, but she still flew round the Nagai Stadium track to increase her personal best.

In her first event this year, Ennis broke Denise Lewis' British under-23 record by 63 points after amassing 6,388 points to win in Desenzano del Garda, Italy, while also equalling Diana Davies' 25-year-old British high-jump record of 1.95 metres.

"It's amazing, I am really pleased. I knew I had to run hard in the 800 and it got me a personal best which is great. It's been an amazing season, I can't really put it into words," she said.

"I'm still regretting the shot putt, if I had thrown near to my PB then it would have put me in a mix for a medal but it's the way it happens in championships. But I honestly did not think I would finish fourth this year, I had such a good year last season and to come out and do better this year has just been great."

Meanwhile Kluft became the first woman ever to notch a hat-trick of gold medals, a feat which eluded all-time greats Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sabine Braun.

Kluft said: "I've been working so hard these last two days and Lyudmila pushed me all the time.

"But I just like to compete and push myself.

"To achieve a PB was my biggest motivation and the European record is a great bonus."