The 18-year-old reached 2.32 metre, topping the 2.30m season best by Israel's Niki Palli, who had to settle for a silver medal with a 2.29 finish. The pair were followed by Bohan Bondarenko of Ukarine.

Xu Fei won the country's first gold medal on Tuesday in the women's 5000m.

"I am overjoyed, it seems unbelievable that I got 2.32. This is a great result. I didn't expect it," said Huang, who previously won the boy's high jump gold medal with a championship record of 2.27m.

"I give myself 11 out of 10 for my performance!"

"I hoped to reach 2.29 before the event and it is simply fantastic. Everybody knows he (Palli) is one of the best junior high jumpers in the world, so there was no pressure on me. I was quite relaxed throughout the competition and I was in a position to challenge him. I am very happy that I reached that height."

The gold medal is the first ever by a Chinese high jumper at this level. It also a boost for the athlete personally. Huang joined the national team earlier this year and, like most of his team-mates, he has his sights set on the Beijing Olympics in two years' time.

"The win gave me a lot of confidence," he said. "I hope to continue the winning streak in the Asian Games in December and even the Beijing Games in 2008."

Coming into the event with a 2.28m personal best set at the National Championships two weeks ago, Huang twice failed at 2.26m, which Palli has already accomplished. But he soon improved to 2.29m before nailing 2.32m.

Huang's jump makes him the second highest leaper in Chinese history.

Zhu Jianhua, three times a World record breaker in 1980s and China's first athlete to get an Olympic medal when he won a bronze in 1984, still holds the Asian record with a leap of 2.39m. It is a target Huang has firmly in his sights.

"Zhu is my idol. Everybody who is involved in high jumping in China knows who he is, but I think I can beat his record in two or three years.

"That's my ultimate target. I may not be able to reach that level by the time Beijing stages the Olympics but I think I will be able to at least challenge for medal there," he said.

Huang's superb performance delighted not only the three thousand fans in the venue but also the country's sports authorities.

Feng Shuyong, director of the Administrative Centre of Track and Field, said Huang has what it takes to become a successful athlete, just like national treasure Liu Xiang.

"He had the same never-say-die spirit as Liu," said Feng. "He was impressive tonight, and he showed me the fighting attitude that we need most on the way to the Beijing Games.

"The gold medal is a breakthrough for China's high jumping, it is what I've been waiting for for years."

In women's triple jump, Li Sha, one of the most highly-rated title contenders, failed to live up to golden expectations with a silver medal finish. She finished behind Kaire Leibak of Estonia, who clinched gold courtesy of a superb world-leading jump of 14.43m, an improvement of 49 centimetres over her previous personal best.

It was a sweet revenge for Leibak who finished second behind Li at last year's IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech, when Li clinched her first international title.

Li was lucky to get silver as Ukraine's Liliya Kulyk also jumped a personal best 14.01m, but was relegated to bronze as her second best effort of 13.78m came 9 centimetres behind Li's second best jump.

Li had improved her personal best to 13.97m to win her qualification round with only one jump, while Leibak also needed only one jump to automatically qualify on Tuesday.

Tonight, Leibak put the pressure on the rest of the field opening with a 13.84m effort, which she followed with 13.94m in the second round.

After the third round and with the medal virtually secure, Leibak jumped 14.05 in response to Li's 13.84m effort.

A foul in round 5 sealed the gold for the Estonian.

Earlier yesterday, Remmy Limo Ndiwa of Kenya out-sprinted defending World Junior champion Abdelati Iguider of Morocco to win the men's 1500 metres gold while Renny Quow became Trinidad and Tobago's third World Junior champion as he improved his personal best to 45.74 to win the men's 400 metres final.

The last competition of the day saw Kaliese Spencer became the first Jamaican to win the women's 400 metres hurdles when she set a new World Junior record of 55.11 secends.