Barshim, who famously shared Olympic gold with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi last year, jumped beautifully all night to go well beyond his own season’s best of 2.30.

The title was just about to secure after he had cleared 2.35 but he then eased over 2.37 looking almost in slow motion.

With the gold medal then in the bag, he had one attempt at a championship record 2.42 but failed.

World indoor champion Woo Sang-hyeok of South Korea needed three attempts to get over 2.33 but then also cleared 2.35 at the second attempt to take silver. Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko collected bronze on the back of his 2.33 clearance.

Tamberi had a nervous path into the final, twice failing at 2.25 and then twice again at 2.28 in Friday’s heats. In the final, he failed twice at 2.30 but then cleared 2.33 at the second attempt before bowing out at 2.35 to finish fourth.