Britain's Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill leads the World Championship heptathlon after day one ahead of compatriot Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Ennis-Hill described herself as "really, really happy" following strong performances in the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m in Beijing.
A total of 4,005 points left Ennis-Hill 80 points clear with the long jump, javelin and 800m to come on Sunday.
Johnson-Thompson moved up from ninth to second after an impressive 200m.
"Kat's doing amazing, she's doing personal bests, so it's definitely going to be a battle and hopefully we'll get a couple of medals," added Ennis-Hill.
Nadine Visser of the Netherlands is third on 3,871 points, ahead of Canada's Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the world number one, in fourth on 3,865.
The heptathlon resumes at 02:00 BST on Sunday with the long jump, followed by the javelin at 05:05 and the 800m, the final event, at 12:40.
The 29-year-old, competing at a major championships for the first time since London 2012, made a superb start in her bid to regain the world title 13 months after giving birth to son Reggie.
After a solid 12.91 seconds in the 100m hurdles, Ennis-Hill matched her season's best with 1.86m in the high jump, threw 13.73m in the shot put and finished second behind Johnson-Thompson with 23.42 seconds in the 200m.
"I am pleased," Ennis-Hill told BBC Sport. "I had that feeling of slight disappointment because I'm always comparing myself to my best, but I'm really pleased with the scores I have.
"I had some solid events, I feel there's a lot more to come, which is frustrating, but generally really, really happy."
The 22-year-old from Liverpool flirted with disaster in the day's second event, the high jump, needing three attempts to get over her opening height of 1.80m, having hit the uprights with her head on her second attempt.
A third failure would have ended her medal hopes but she survived and, eventually, prospered.
Johnson-Thompson had opened with a personal best of 13.37secs in the 100m hurdles, but another best of 12.47m in the shot was not enough to stop her slipping to ninth overall.
A dominant 23.08 seconds in her first 200m of the season got her back on track, however, and put her on course for a medal.
"It's been a good day one for me," said Johnson-Thompson. "The high jump was a bit nerve wracking. I had a bit of a faulty run-up so I'm happy that didn't all end in tears."
Nineteen-year-old Eritrean Ghirmay Ghebreslassie won the men's marathon in two hours 12 minutes 27 seconds, stretching away from Ethiopia's Yemane Tsegay in the final mile with Uganda's Solomon
Defending champion Stephen Kiprotich came in sixth, while world record holder Dennis Kimetto and double London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang both dropped out at 30km.
In the absence of New Zealand's four-time world champion Valerie Adams, Germany's Christina Schwanitz claimed victory in the women's shot put, a best of 20.37m trumping early leader and home hope Gong Lijiao.
The Chinese thrower sealed silver this time around with 20.30m, American Michelle Carter taking bronze (19.76).
How did the other Britons get on?
Britain's Laura Weightman and Laura Muir qualified comfortably from the heats of the 1500m, although Weightman suffered a nasty fall having crossed the line.
Weightman cut her face in the fall, but the 24-year-old from Northumberland later tweeted: "Had a close encounter with the track this morning. Good job I'm a northern girl and survived. Thanks for everyone's messages. Semi-final next!"
Nick Miller's first-round throw of 77.42m, less than a metre down on his own British record, saw him qualify for the hammer final, but Michael Rimmer and his young compatriot Kyle Langford went out in the first round of the 800m.
And in the field Steve Lewis went out of the pole vault competition with a best clearance of 5.40m.
Mo Farah made it six global distance titles in a row as he retained his 10,000m crown despite a last-lap stumble to win Britain's first gold of the 2015 World Championships.
Seven years ago in this stadium in Beijing, Farah crashed out of the Olympics after failing to qualify from the heats of the 5,000m.
But the 32-year-old Olympic champion saw off the determined team effort of his three Kenyan challengers before producing a last lap of 54.15 seconds to come away from Geoffrey Kamworor and Paul Tanui in the home straight.
It is a familiar sight now with Farah, an athlete transformed from the undisciplined also-ran of 2008, but it was no less impressive: a last 800m in one min 56.01secs and a last mile of 4:06.6 to win in 27:01.13.
Kamworor took silver and Tanui bronze with Farah's training partner Galen Rupp fading into fifth, the two Kenyans and team-mate Bedan Muchiri attempting to negate Farah's fast finish by pushing the pace early on.
But in warm, sticky conditions - around 25C and 60% humidity despite the race finishing after 10pm local time - Farah sat in behind his rivals as they produced a series of laps around 64 seconds and then kept closer order still as the pace dropped away in the heat.
Farah broke the stadium record at the Bird's Nest by three hundredths of a second
The Briton went briefly to the front with four and a half laps to go and then again with 1200 metres left, before surging definitively with 500 metres to go, a lead he would never relinquish despite a trip as he overtook a lapped runner.
With a series of allegations made against his coach Alberto Salazar - there is no suggestion Farah has done anything wrong, and his American coach denies the claims - this has been a difficult summer for the man who won the 10,000m and 5,000m double at both the last Worlds in Moscow and the London 2012 Olympics.
But Farah, an uncomplicated man, has retreated into what he knows best: disciplined training, tactically perfect racing.
And with the 5,000m final in a week's time, he has the chance to leave Beijing as arguably his nation's greatest ever athlete.
It wasn't easy - Farah
Describing it as his toughest championship race, Farah said he knew his Kenyan and Ethiopian rivals would attempt to negate his kick finish by running quickly early.
"I knew the guys were going to do that, too many years now they've left it slow so they had to do it and it did happen," the world champion said.
"It was a matter of digging in and hopefully it didn't take too much out of me for the 5,000m. It's not easy running 27 minutes in this heat.
"The last lap, that was close - I honestly thought at one point I was gone because I stumbled. The Olympics were pretty tough because of the pressure and being at home, but at the same time it was never that quick."
Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Brendan Foster: "That was a great race. Farah was tested, but he followed every move. It was a fantastic performance. He might end up being regarded as the greatest distance runner there's ever been. The 5,000m will be difficult because there are heats to get through as well. Mo will hate the heats, because he's run 25 laps here, and when you have to run 12 and a half laps in a heat for the 5,000m, your body doesn't want to do that."
Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe: "The field threw everything at him, including nearly tripping him. But he just took it in his stride. He's in the shape of his life, and he knew that whatever they tried, they weren't good enough to beat him."
European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey: "Mo stayed out of trouble. He wasn't fazed by the field pushing the pace. He conserved energy, and only pushed when he needed to. He looked comfortable. He was so professional afterwards - he's only focused on the next race."
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