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400M SEMI-FINAL: Kirani James (left) leads home Deon Lendore of Trinidad & Tobago. (Paul Reid photo)
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(July 13): Lanky Kirani James, the teenaged wonder from the spice island of Grenada in the West Indies, was the Caribbean toast of the 5-day World Youth Championships in Sudtirol, Italy which ended Sunday, July 12.
First, he clocked a magnificent 45.24 secs. to win the boys 400m on Friday, establishing a record for himself and setting a new World Youth Championships mark in the process. Then on the final day, James covered the 200m field long before entering the straight for home and ran another scintillating personal best of 21.05 (0.150w) to win going away.
The quarter-miler, who turns 17 on September 1, has long been opening mouths in amazement and turning heads in disbelief since he was 14.
At that age, he won the 400m in the Under-17 category at the 2007 CARIFTA Games, running 47.86 secs. He then won a silver medal at the World Youth Championships that same year with a time of 46.96, the fastest run by a 14-yr-old.
Last year April, James defended his CARIFTA 400m title in 47.87 and took the 200m with a time of 21.38. Then at the July 2008 World Junior Championships he won silver in 45.70, the fastest time ever run by a 15-yr-old. In October 2008, he won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in a new games record of 46.66.
Competing at CARIFTA for the third time this year and for the first time in the Under-20 division, James ran a scorching 45.45 to defeat the defending 400m champion and compatriot Rondell Bartolomew and erase Usain Bolt's six-year-old championship record of 46.35.
Just before going to the World Youth Championships, James took on the
“big boys"
at the Grenada national trials last month and won in 45.70, beating a field that included overseas-based college students Joel Redhead and Kevin Bowen.
James'
s two gold medals placed his country 8th on the medal table led by Kenya with six gold, seven silver and one bronze, followed by the USA (6-5-5) and Britain (4-1-1). His contribution also pushed the English-speaking Caribbean
medal count to six: two gold, three silver and a bronze. Other Caribbean medals came from Cuba, one gold in the men's 400m hurdles; the Virgin Islands, 2 silver in the women's 100m & 200m; and Jamaica, 1 silver in the women's 400m hurdles and 1 bronze in the men's discus throw.