Tatyana Lebedeva reacts after setting a triple jump world record in Budapest. (Reuters)

An ecstatic Yelena Isinbayeva after creating a pole vault world record on Saturday

Budapest: Tatyana Lebedeva and Yelena Isinbayeva both celebrated world records on Saturday to turn the world indoors championships into an all-Russian affair. The pair may not compete in athletics’ most fashionable events — the women’s triple jump and pole vault — but they set the Budapest showpiece alight in front of a sell-out crowd.

On Sunday, Olympic champion Maria Mutola made history, becoming the first athlete in history to win six indoor titles when she captured the 800m.

Then Russia’s 4x400m women’s relay team beat their own world record. They timed 3:23.88 secs to beat the previous mark of 3:24.25, set at the world championships in Maebashi, Japan.

Shortly before the relay, Sweden’s Christian Olsson had equalled the men’s triple jump world record of 17.83m to win the event.

On Saturday, however, even American high hurdler Allen Johnson and Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm, who each claimed a third world indoors gold, could not compete for the limelight. Lebedeva stole the honours, just, with one of the great triple-jumping performances of all time — leaping into history by equalling and then twice breaking the world record.

Already a double world champion outdoors, she restricted herself to four of her ration of six jumps. All would have been good enough for gold.

Her first round equalled the world record of 15.16m, set by Britain’s Ashia Hansen six years previously, and the second raised it to 15.25. A relative breather of 15.15 followed before she flew out to 15.36 as the crowd roared her into history.

The exertions of breaking the women’s world indoor triple jump record twice proved no hindrance to Lebedeva who secured her place in the record books by leaping to long jump gold and a unique double on Sunday.

Less than 24 hours after her extraordinary performance, Lebedeva underlined her dominance of the jumps with a winning mark of 6.98.

Isinbayeva soared higher than any female athlete in history by clearing 4.86m. The 21-year-old, who usurped compatriot Svetlana Feofanova’s mark of 4.85, now holds the world record both indoors and out and is closing in on the 16-feet barrier (4.87m).

She tried and failed to go even higher at 4.91 and made one audacious attempt to clear five metres, before leaving that milestone for another day.

World outdoor champion Feofanova settled for bronze after going no higher than 4.70.

Olympic champion Stacy Dragila provided the main challenge, clearing 4.81 for silver.

Johnson, who only qualified for the 60m hurdles final as a fastest loser, regained his composure to win in a championship record of 7.36 ahead of main rival Xiang Liu of China (7.43).

On Friday, Gail Devers, with a burst of raw power from her ageless legs, completed a hattrick of world indoor 60m titles.

Devers needed to take Sunday’s 60m hurdles to become the first athlete to complete such a double at indoor worlds. But she had to settle for silver, finishing .03 seconds behind Perdita Felicien of Canada.