Jonathan Edwards, the unassuming British triple jumper who finds it hard to believe what he has accomplished smashed the world record twice at World Championships yesterday.

In shattering the mark for the first time, Edwards became the first jumper to surpass 59 fee, his previous record, by soaring 59-7, on his first attempt. On his second try, he surpassed the magical 60-foot barrier by a quarter of an inch. After those efforts, the first time anyone has broken his own triple jump record twice in the same meet since Brazilian Adhemar Ferreria da Silva did it during the 1952 Olympic final in Helsinki, the shaken Edwards passed twice. He then completed his remarkable series by jumping 57-4 3 before again passing.

"It is difficult to take in,'' Edwards, 29, has said after first setting the record of 59 feet at Salamanca, Spain, breaking Willie Banks; 10-year-old mark of 58-11 1 . "In my mind, there is still a distance between what I read about and who I am. "People are comparing my performances to those of Bob Beamon and Butch Reynold, and that feels very odd because there are legends in the sport. And this is just me. It's quite humbling to do what I've done.'' Brian Wellman of Bermuda captured the silver medal with a wind-aided 57-9 3 while Jerome Romain of Dominica, won the bronze also with a wind-aided 57-8 1 .

Wellman, who had taken several weeks off prior to the Outdoor Worlds predicted that the record Edwards set last months would be the mark to beat in Sweden.

Only a year ago, Edwards, the son of a churchman, was hardly close to being a legend. In fact, he was very depressed after being afflicted by the Epstein-Barr virus.

The illness, which caused mono-nucleosis, interfered with his training and continued to affect him until March.

On June 11, he broke Keith Connor's 13-year-old British record of 57-7 3 , but each jump was wind-aided and unable to be accepted as world marks. He did, however, have a legal 58-1 3 , another British record.

Five days after breaking Banks' record last month, Edwards jumped 59-4 at Gateshead, England, but again it was wind-aided.

Coming into the championships, he didn't know hat to expect.

"I didn't think I could do it,'' he said yesterday. "I've been petrified for the last three days. I've has such a good season, but suddenly it could all go wrong. Someone could come out and do a really long jump.'' Later he said: " To achieve an 18 metre (59-0 3 ) jump on my first try was, of course, a surprise to me. It helped me to be relaxed.'' Edwards, a religious man, missed the 1991 World Championships because he would not jump on a Sunday. Two years later, he relaxed his rule and won the bronze medal at the 1993 championships.

SILVER LINING -- Bermuda triple jumper Brian Wellman (right) celebrates winning the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships yesterday with bronze medallist Jerome Romain of Dominica (left) and Briton Jonathan Edwards who took the gold with two record-breaking jumps. -- Reuter