Moses, Joyner-Kersee Win Gold

ROME — Edwin Moses won the 400-meter hurdles today to give the United States its first gold medal at the World Track and Field Championships, and Jackie Joyner- Kersee missed a world record but captured the heptathlon.

Moses, grimacing and tiring over the final strides, lunged across the finish line to edge Danny Harris of the United States and Harald Schmid of West Germany. Moses was clocked at 47.46 seconds, the fastest time of the year. Joyner-Kersee, of Long Beach, completed the two-day event with 7,128 points--30 fewer than her record set in August, 1986, in Houston. She entered the final event, the 800 meters, needing only a relatively slow time of 2:14.09 for a record. However, she finished fourth in her heat in 2:16.29.