Sally Pearson Australia’s first athletics gold medal of the London Olympics.

The hot favourite clocked an Olympic record of 12.35 seconds to edge American defending champion Dawn Harper into silver by just 0.02secs. Another United States athlete, Kellie Wells, took the bronze in 12.48s.

Pearson endured a nervous few moments before the result was confirmed on the scoreboard, bringing cheers of delight from the Australian fans.

The Aussie said: ‘It’s a dream. Relief was the first thing I felt and then shock. I’m just going through the emotions. I really wanted this. I’ve worked so hard for two years. To see my name on the scoreboard, I just can’t believe it.’

Pearson endured a nervous few moments before the result was confirmed on the scoreboard, bringing cheers of delight from the Australian fans.

The Aussie said: ‘It’s a dream. Relief was the first thing I felt and then shock. I’m just going through the emotions. I really wanted this. I’ve worked so hard for two years. To see my name on the scoreboard, I just can’t believe it.’

Her three American rivals all looked impressive with Lolo Jones the next fastest at 12.68sec and Kellie Wells next on 12.69sec. Reigning Olympic champion Dawn Harper (12.75sec) was defeated in her heat by Turkey’s Nevin Yanit.

Pearson put to bed any doubts about her form following the shock loss at her final hit-out before the Games at last month’s London Grand Prix.

She injured her back in a tumble during the warm-up before that event but after three weeks of solid training there were no signs of any problems as she opened her Olympic campaign.

In the lead-up Pearson described her first defeat for the year by Wells as a timely wake-up call which she simply put down to a bad day at the office.

Hannan has preached control to her star hurdler over recent days after it became apparent the Olympic Stadium track is extremely fast.

London 2012 Olympics News: Russian Ivan Ukhov claims high jump gold.

Russian Ivan Ukhov survived losing his competition vest to win gold in the men’s high jump final with a leap of 2.38 metres at the London Olympics on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old, this year’s top jumper, finished ahead of America’s Erik Kynard who took silver with 2.33 on a wet evening in east London.

Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, Canada’s Derek Drouin and Britain’s European champion Robbie Grabarz each won a bronze medal after being tied in third on 2.29.

Twice European and former world indoor champion Ukhov, who has the year’s highest jump at 2.39, even lost his vest at one point, revealing a heavily strapped up back before hastily pinning a number to a spare T-shirt and coolly clearing his next height.

He had one failed attempt at 2.40 to try to better American Charles Austin’s Olympic record of 2.39 set in 1996, before taking off his shoes and starting the celebrations.

Russia’s 2008 Olympic champion Andrey Silnov and American world champion Jesse Williams crashed out at 2.29 metres, well below their season’s bests of 2.37 and 2.36 respectively.

For Williams, who took the world title at last year’s championships in South Korea, the pain of his exit was clear to see as he lay still on the floor with his head in his hands.

“I couldn’t believe it and I still can’t, it hurts. My first couple of jumps were good. I’ve got a lot to think about,” the American told reporters.

A bronze for Grabarz was Britain’s 48th medal of the Games, matching the host nation’s minimum target set by UK Sport.

“If you told me when I was young that I could have a bronze medal at an Olympics in London I’d have bitten your hand off. Cheers for everyone’s help,” the 24-year-old said.

London 2012 Olympics News:Robert Harting wins discus gold

Exuberant German Robert Harting added the Olympic discus gold to his two world titles on Tuesday before stripping off his vest and treating a packed stadium to some theatrical high-hurdling.

Harting, 27, draped a German flag around his naked torso and set off on a lap of honour after winning with a throw of 68.27 metres.

On reaching the home straight, Harting proceeded to jump the hurdles laid out for the women’s 100h final as an appreciative crowd cheered each time he “cleared” a hurdle.

Harting claimed victory with his fifth-round effort, surpassing Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi who had led since the opening round with 68.18. His silver was Iran’s first Olympic track and field medal.

Defending champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia won bronze with a best of 68.03.

“It’s just amazing. I can’t believe it. It was so hard as my beginning was bad. It got better and in the end I was lucky,” Harting told reporters.

“I’ve dreamed of this since I was 12. I first picked up a discus in 2000. From then on I worked hard to get here.”

Harting was fourth in the Beijing final in 2008 but became world champion for the first time a year later in Berlin and defended his title last year in Daegu, South Korea.

This season he threw over 70 metres for the first time, a world leading mark of 70.66 in May.

Twice Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania’s bid to secure another podium finish at the age of 40 ended in disappointment as a best of 67.38 left him out of the medals in fourth.

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