Australian Kelsey-Lee Barber has shown nerves of steel to win the gold medal in the women's javelin at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Key points: Kelsey-Lee Barber is just the ninth Australian to win a world championship athletics title

Kelsey-Lee Barber is just the ninth Australian to win a world championship athletics title Barber has silver and bronze Commonwealth Games medals, but this is her first world championship medal

Barber has silver and bronze Commonwealth Games medals, but this is her first world championship medal Barber won gold with her final throw of the competition

Having lengthened her run-up on the advice of coach and husband Mike Barber, the 28-year-old claimed the world title in dramatic style, moving from fourth place to first with the clutch final-round effort of 66.56m.

"I didn't know how far it was as I was still waiting to watch it fly over that line, but it certainly felt like a really clean throw," Barber said.

"With easy, clean throwing you normally know they are quite good throws.

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"I thought it had snuck over 65 so I was just waiting to see the numbers come up.

"Then to see 66 and jump into first place my head was spinning a bit.

"But I was like 'wait, I can't celebrate too early because I have still got three girls to go'."

As it turned out, none of them were able to respond.

The minor medals went to Chinese duo Liu Shiying (65.75m) and Lyu Huihui (65.49m).

Barber came into the championships ranked number two in the world this year courtesy of a brilliant season highlighted by a personal best of 67.70m in Lucerne in July.

But she looked out of sorts in the qualifying round in Doha on Monday, only scraping through to the 12-woman final in 10th place.

Barber settled her nerves on Tuesday night with a solid opening throw of 62.95m, but with one round to go in the final she had only improved to 63.65m and a podium finished looked unlikely.

But the 28-year-old had other ideas, producing what turned out to be the gold medal-winning effort in the final round.

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Afterwards, Barber paid tribute to her coach and husband.

"It's wonderful and I wouldn't be able to do this without him," she said.

"And especially tonight my performance couldn't have been achieved without him on the fence.

"There were technical cues as much as anything but just to have the support to say 'you're good' or 'cool, calm down a little bit'.

"The emotional connection is what makes it so special and so enjoyable."

It was only the second throwing gold medal won by an Australian at a world championships and Australia's first medal of any colour at this year's competition.

Barber also became just the ninth Australian athlete to win a world championships title.

AAP/ABC