The British-born athlete, now competing for Italy, was just a single centimetre clear of silver medallist Tatyana Kotova.

And victory went a long way to erasing the painful memories of the last World Championships in Seville in 1999, when she lost the title to Spain's Niurka Montalvo on a controversial final jump.

"I was really, really sick of getting second all the time," May said.

"I think I did not even believe that I could win anymore."

The high quality event took place in following winds that propelled most of the finalists to big jumps.

May's best jump came in the third round, although she led from the opening round.

The distance of 7.02 metres was just enough to beat Russian Kotova.

The silver medallist gave May a scare in the fourth round with a 7.01 metre jump.

Kotova took silver ahead of 1999 world champion, Niurka Montalvo.

The Cuban-born Spaniard recorded a jump of 6.88m.

Tunde Vaszi - who set a Hungarian record of 6.86m in the third round - briefly held second place, but could only finish fourth.

May revealed she now plans to rest on her laurels: "I already said that I will take next year off. I want to spend time with my family.

"I will come back just after a year, because I can't stay home for that long," she added.

By that time, the 2003 World Championships in Paris and the 2004 Olympics will be looming.

"There will be Athens," said the two-time Olympic silver-medallist, "where I would love to go and repeat my performance from today."