Wariner retains title
ByReuters
Published 31/08/2007 at 10:48 GMT
Jeremy Wariner retained his world 400 metres title with a dazzling lifetime best to lead an American sweep of the medals, while compatriot Allyson Felix defended her own 200m title and China's Liu Xiang finally took World Championship gold in the 110m hur
ATHLETICS 2007 World Championships Jeremy Wariner 400m gold medal winner
Image credit: Reuters
Olympic champion Wariner, 23, powered off the final bend to clock 43.45 seconds - 0.05 better than his previous mark - despite a swirling wind in Osaka.
LaShawn Merritt took silver in 43.96 with Angelo Taylor completing an all-American podium with a time of 44.32.
Wariner, who has not lost a championship race since 2004, exploded from the blocks and was quickly out in front before underlining his class in the last 100 metres.
Ending the evening's action, Liu gave a near flawless display of high hurdling to complete his collection of major titles in the 110m hurdles.
The 24-year-old Olympic champion and world record holder once again relied on his technical prowess to make up for a mediocre start, surging across the line in 12.95 seconds.
Liu won bronze in Paris in 2003 then silver in Helsinki in 2005 when expected to win after his Athens triumph. He is now China's first male world champion on the track.
American Terrence Trammell ran 12.99 for another silver medal to add to the two he has won at the Olympics, while his compatriot David Payne, who arrived in Osaka as a late replacement on Tuesday, was surprisingly third in 13.02.
Felix retained her long sprint title in style, surging down the home straight to win gold in the best women's 200m time of the year.
Felix, the youngest athlete to claim a sprint world title when she won as a 19-year-old in Helsinki two years ago, dashed across the line in 21.81 seconds to match Jamaican Marlene Ottey in winning back-to-back world championship 200m golds.
World 100m and Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell looked to be in with a chance of a sprint double at the bend but Felix stormed past her and the Jamaican took silver in 22.34.
Sri Lanka's 31-year-old Susanthika Jayasinghe also finished strongly to snatch bronze from American Torri Edwards in 22.63 a decade after winning her last world championship medal by finishing second in Athens.
In the field Czech Barbora Spotakova survived a late scare to win women's javelin gold.
Spotakova took full advantage of the absence of Olympic champion and world record holder Osleidys Menendez of Cuba to win with her third throw of 67.07 metres.
Germany's Christina Obergfoell secured silver again after finishing runner-up to Menendez in Helsinki two years ago but her final throw of 66.46 gave Spotakova a nervous wait.
Fellow German Steffi Nerius took bronze with 64.42.
Menendez decided not to defend her world title after aggravating an Achilles problem, preferring to focus on next year's Beijing Olympics.
Cuban Yargelis Savigne caused a major upset when she soared to women's triple jump gold and deprived Russian Tatyana Lebedeva of an unprecedented world championships double on Friday.
The 22-year-old athlete produced the best leap of the year of 15.28 metres on her first attempt at the Nagai Stadium and it proved good enough to take the title.
Lebedeva, 31, won the long jump this week and was hoping to reclaim the title she won in her favourite event in both 2001 and 2003 to become the first woman to take both world golds at the same World Championships.
In the end she had to settle for silver with a best effort of 15.07m, while Greece's Olympic silver medallist Hrysopiyi Devetzi won bronze with her first attempt of 15.04m.
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