Greene takes gold in Daegu

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(CNN) -- Dai Greene completed a memorable hat-trick of titles ahead of next year's Olympics in London by storming to victory in the 400 meters hurdles at the world championships in Daegu Thursday. Greene, already the European and Commonwealth champion in the discipline, added the global crown to his tally with a scintillating performance to give Britain their first gold of the week. He surged off the final hurdle to overtake Puerto Rico's Javier Culson with LJ van Zyl of South Africa taking the bronze. Double Olympic champion Angelo Taylor, troubled by a foot injury, finished out of the medals. Greene, whose winning time was 48.26 seconds, timed his move perfectly in a race disrupted by two faulty starts and cool and windy conditions "Coming off the last hurdle I had so much momentum," Greene told Channel 4. He will go into next year's London Games as favorite to complete the full set of medals in major championships. Greene said he had been inspired by the surprise silver medal of teammate Hannah England in the women's 1500 meters final which preceded his event. England finished second to Jenny Simpson of the United States, with Spain's Natalia Rodriquez in third as for once African athletes were out of the medals in a distance event. But Kenyan runners dominated the men's 3,000 meters steeplechase with Ezekiel Kemboi defending his world title and having time to celebrate as he took gold ahead of teammate Brimin Kipruto. Simpson's gold was one of three for the medal-leading U.S. team with Jesse Williams winning the high jump with a 2.35m clearance ahead of Russia's Aleksey Dmitrik and Trevor Barry of the Bahamas, while Lashinda Demus cruised to victory in the women's 400m hurdles ahead of defending champion Melaine Walker of Jamaica. The other gold decided was in the women's triple jump which went to Ukraine's Olha Saladuha with a 14.94m effort.