AP News, August 31st, 2007
The power and grace of two young Americans lit up the night at the world track and field championships. Jeremy Wariner led a U.S. sweep with the fifth-fastest 400 meters in history Friday and Allyson Felix ran the first sub 22-second women's 200 in eight years _ all in the space of an hour of superb competition in near-perfect conditions at Nagai Stadium.
It was the second world title in a row for both runners. Wariner also has an Olympic gold medal, Felix a silver. There should be many more; Wariner is 23, while Felix is 21.
"It's not just me and her," Wariner said. "LaShawn Merritt was part of it because he broke 44 (seconds) for the first time in his career. Me and him are going to be battling for the rest of our career. The younger we are, the more it's going to help us out with the sport."
Chinese world record holder Liu Xiang capped the night with his first world 110-meter hurdle title. Americans Terrence Trammell and David Payne were second and third.
In all, the United States won six medals, two gold. The Americans lead the medal race with 19, eight of them gold.
Unlike its botched first handoff at the worlds in Helsinki two years ago, the U.S. 400-meter relay team made it around the track without dropping the baton, qualifying for Saturday night's final.
Not everything went well for the United States. Defending decathlon champion Bryan Clay pulled a quadriceps in his right leg in the high jump and had to withdraw from the competition.
"I still don't know what happened," Clay told The Associated Press. "It was going so well, too. It just got tighter and tighter. It was just too painful to go on."
Wariner and Felix are lean athletes who dominate with a fluid motion their competitors can't match.
"I'm still as calm on the track as I am off the track," Wariner said. "I just stay focused."
Wariner won in a personal-best 43.45 seconds. Only Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds have run faster. Merritt was second at 43.96, also his best, and Angelo Taylor third at 44.32.
Asked how he has accomplished so much so soon, Wariner said, "It's just all the goals I have for myself. I want to break the world record. I want to be the first to go sub-43 and just stay undefeated as much as possible."
Merritt, just 21, refuses to concede the event to Wariner.
"He's beatable," Merritt said. "I still say he's beatable. Before the race I said he was beatable, and even though I got second, I still believe he's beatable."
Like Wariner, Felix called it her best race. She won in 21.81, the fastest since Inger Miller's 21.77 at the 1999 worlds in Seville, Spain. Felix's victory margin of 0.53 seconds over 100 champion Veronica Campbell of Jamaica was the largest in the meet's history.
In fact, it was also larger than any Olympic victory margin in the 200 since Fanny Blankers-Koen beat Audrey Williamson by 0.8 seconds at the 1948 Games in London.
"This one was really special," Felix said. "I've been at 22 seconds for as long as I can remember."
American Sanya Richards, who missed competing in her best event _ the 400 _ by failing to qualify in the U.S. championships, was fifth in the 200 and left the track on the brink of tears.
"I felt very good today in warm-up and I definitely felt I could run with Allyson and Veronica," Richards said. "When they passed me on the turn I didn't think that could happen so early, and I don't think I tightened up, I just kind of got a little discouraged and didn't even end up with a medal."
Felix will go for two more golds as part of the U.S. 400 and 1,600 relay teams, her agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, said.
Felix often seems overlooked despite her dominance of the 200, but she said she didn't care.
"I don't do it for the attention," she said. "It's just the gift that God has given me and I feel like I'm using my talents to the best of my ability. I felt like it really showed this night. I'm just so happy with the win and the time."
Nehemiah, though, said Felix truly does want more respect from the public and her peers.
"You know when you kind of get overlooked, people talk about everybody else yet you're still the best in the world, the best combination sprinter in the world bar none," he said. "It's insulting, it's motivating."
Felix is going to add the 400 on a regular basis, he said, to develop a rivalry with Richards, who was represented by Nehemiah in the early years of her pro career but now uses her mother as her agent. Felix, though, said she hasn't decided whether the 100 or 400 will be her second event.
The powerhouse U.S. performance in the 400 bodes well for the 1,600 relay on Sunday.
"We're going to put on a show," Merritt said.
Liu knows he carries the hopes of China when his country hosts the Olympic Games next year, and he expressed relief after his first world title.
"I realized I won at the last moment," he said through an interpreter. "I was pretty much nervous before the race, which is the world championships, which everybody pays attention to and everybody puts so much emphasis on, including myself.
"I think that I was able to conquer my pressure and tension to get the gold medal."
One of the most surprising performances came from the bronze medalist Payne, who learned Monday that he was replacing the injured Dominique Arnold. Payne climbed on a plane in Virginia on Monday and arrived in Osaka on Tuesday night, the eve of the first heats. He said he was still waiting for the jet lag.
"I'm wondering when it's going to hit me," he said, "but it doesn't matter now. I've got a medal."
