Team USA wins 25 medals at World Championships

Team USA wins 25 medals at World Championships

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAEGU, South Korea — Team USA closed out the 13th IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Championships adding two more gold medals to its collection, while Allyson Felix and Bernard Lagat achieved milestones as multi-time medalists Sunday night.

Team USA led the country medal count with 25 total, including 12 golds and eight silvers which also led all nations. Team USA also had the most medals of any men’s team totaling 13 compared to seven by runner-up Kenya.

The 12 medals, including six gold, won by the USA women’s team were the most ever at the World Outdoor Championships.

Felix ran the second leg on Team USA’s women’s 4x100 which ran a world-leading time of 41.56 to earn her 10th career medal at the World Championships tying her with the legendary Carl Lewis for the most medals ever won by an American. It also marked just the third time Team USA won the women’s 4x100 and 4x400 relays at the same World Championships.

Felix became only the fourth woman in the history of the World Championships to collect four medals in the meet joining American Gwen Torrence. Kathrin Krabbe of Germany and Marita Koch from East Germany. Felix finished second in the 400, third in the 200 while running on the winning 4x400 relay

Team USA also showed a bright glimpse to the future by having youngsters Christian Taylor (21) and Will Claye (20) capture the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the men's triple jump. It marked just the second time Team USA has won two medals in the triple jump.

Lagat’s second-place finish in the men’s 5,000 enabled him to become the all-time leading World Championships medalist in the race by collecting his third medal to go along with a gold in 2007 and a silver in 2009.

Women’s 4x100m Final
Team USA put it all together with a world-leading time of 41.56 to beat defending champion Jamaica. Earlier in the night Team USA had run a then world-leading time of 41.94 in the qualifying heats.

Bianca Knight (Austin, Texas) ran the lead leg and established Team USA in the first position. 200m bronze medalist Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.) maintained the lead and exchanged the baton with Marshavet Myers (Grand Prairie, Texas). Myers was able to extend the lead over her opponent Sherone Simpson of Jamaica.

On the final leg Carmelta Jeter (Gardena, Calif.) opened with a lead of three meters, and even as Veronica-Campbell Brown of Jamaica tried to close the gap, Jeter finished strong to bring the USA home in 41.56 to Jamaica’s 41.70.
It was the first meeting between Team USA and Jamaica in a women’s relay final since the 2007 World Championships, when Team USA finished just 0.03 ahead of the Jamaicans.

Triple Jump Men Final
Two of the youngest members of Team USA jumped to gold and bronze in the men’s triple jump. After three jumps, defending World Champion Phillips Idowu from Great Britain sat in first, with Americans Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) in second and Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.) in third. On the fourth jump Taylor, 21, let loose a world leading mark of 17.96m/58-11.25 to move into first. Oduwu then improved his mark as well to 17.77m/58-3.75, but remained in the silver position. Claye, 20, stayed in third with his mark of 17.50m/57-5 and no one else was able to touch the podium and the order remained the same through the next two attempts.

It marked the second time that the U.S. has ever had two medalists in the men’s triple jump. The last occasion was with Kenney Harrison and Michael Conley in 1991.

5,000m Men Final
Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.) and Galen Rupp (Portland, Ore.) ran near one another for much of the race. The pack stayed largely intact through 4,600m, with Lagat and Rupp shifting positions throughout the middle of the pack with Rupp even taking a turn in the runner-up spot. But when the bell rang for the last lap, the pack quickly strung out and Rupp began to fade farther back into the pack. With 200m remaining, Lagat made a surge to the front and coming down the homestretch he charged after Mo Farah of Great Britain, only to finish within three-tenths of a second behind in 13:23.64. Rupp finished ninth in 13:28.64.

Lagat became the first man to ever win three world championship medals in the 5,000m. After winning gold in 2007 and silver in 2009, Lagat proved that even though he may be the oldest of the field (36), he still has what it takes to make it to the podium.

800m Women Final
With the entire field running under two minutes, Alysia Montano (Canyon Country, Calif.) and Maggie Vessey (Seacliff, Calif.) both ran to season bests in the 800m. Montano found herself in third at the bell lap, but as Caster Semenya of South Africa began her charge on the backstretch, Montano fell to fourth. Coming down the last 100m, it looked as if Montano was going to catch Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya, but the Kenya was able to hold on to take bronze by only six-hundredths of a second, with Montano taking third in 1:57.48. Vessey finished two positions back in sixth in 1:58.66. Today’s race marked the first time the U.S. had two athletes in the final and was the second fastest career 800m for both Vessey and Montano.

Men’s 4x100m Final
Team USA, which ran a world-leading time (37.79) in the heats, failed to complete the final as Darvis Patton (Grand Prairie, Texas) collided with Britain’s anchor, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, as he came in to make the final exchange to Walter Dix (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Patton sprawled to the track, tried unavailingly to get up, and watched despairingly as the rest of the field set off on the final leg. The result saw Usain Bolt belt down the home straight allowing Jamaica to set a world record of 37.04. Trell Kimmons (Coldwater, Miss.) and Justin Gatlin (Orlando, Fla.) ran the first and second legs for Team USA in both the qualifying and final round.

Women’s Hammer Throw Final
Jessica Cosby (Mission Hills, Calif.) finished the women’s hammer throw in 11th place. On her second throw of the day she hit 68.91m/226-1, just shy of her mark from qualifying of 71.06m/233-1.

QUOTES

Bianca Knight, 1st leg Women’s 4x100m Final
“I just feel honored to be able to be at my first World Championships and to be able to run both rounds and win a gold medal. I guess this will be a dream season for me. I’ve still got one more meet left, and I’m looking good for that too. The season is not done yet, but this is definitely the highlight of my season.”

Allyson Felix, 2nd leg Women’s 4x100m Final
“Earlier today I heard about [tying Carl Lewis’ record 10 medals]. I had no idea; it is a really cool thing. It was so much fun. I think I was just running on adrenaline. I was just an honor to be asked to run with these amazing women, especially after such a long program. I was just excited to be a part of it.”

Marshevet Myers, 3rd leg Women’s 4x100m Final
“It feels great. This is my first gold medal. It’s great motivation going into next year. These girls ran great and I feel blessed to be a part of this wonderful relay team. I’m ever prouder now of finding out we ran a world best.”

Carmelita Jeter, 4th leg Women’s 4x100m final
“The difference is that you have other women depending on you. and you know that if you fell there would be a lot of pressure on you.. To know that these girls ran exceptional legs and you couldn’t get it across the finish line for them. That was the most pressure I had in these championships. I’m very excited and I’m excited about London 2012.”

Justin Gatlin, 2nd leg men’s 4x100m Final
“We were amped up to get ready for the finals...We had good exchanges all year. We wanted to show the world that we’re a good relay team. It’s really bittersweet because we came together
as a team to show the world that we can get the stick around and be cohesive. We had great stick passing in the prelims. Going into the fourth leg in the finals we had great sticking passing. I thought we had the world ready for an American record and we were definitely in medal contention.”

Christian Taylor, Men’s Triple Jump Final
“This is a blessing. It has been such a journey. I came to win and I’m extremely happy with the results. I had a lot of fun and it is just a blessing.

“I have another family in Atlanta now. It’s a great jump, you saw Dwight jump for yourselves. It’s a hard working group and to be able to work with these guys day in and day out. It give me confidence coming into these World Champs working with Walter Davis, a World Champion himself. It’s been a great experience and journey

“I do this event because it is the closest experience I can get to flying, and I felt it when I hit that last jump.”

Will Claye, Men’s Triple Jump Final
“We’ve been thinking about this all year. We came out here and did our best and ended up doing big things.”

“It was a long week for me. The result is great, bigger than me. But God maybe planned it like this with me. In the warm-up I felt I could jump very long. I am very pleased and happy also for Christian’s awesome jump.”

Bernard Lagat, Men’s 5,000m Final
“My finish was strong, but I felt myself boxed, and I just couldn't get out. I'm not making any excuses. I was waiting until 80 meters to go to move, but got boxed. I was keying on Mo Farah, because he was the strongest runner, and so I kept on his shoulder the entire way. I was in position until I got bumped and boxed. I need to learn for 2012 that in order to position yourself to win, you have to stay out of trouble.”

Galen Rupp, Men’s 5,000m Final
“I just didn't have it today. I didn't have my kick…I still have to get a little stronger so I have more energy on the last lap. I think I'm just spending too much to get to the last lap. I don't have that much to pick it up. That is something I’ve been working on and we will continue to work on going into next year.”

On wining time: “I thought it would be a little faster to be honest. You have to be ready for anything in these championships.”

Alysia Montano, Women’s 800m Final
“The 800 is an unforgiving event. I felt like I had a lot left, but I was in a bad position. I had to jump out, and that took a little bit out of forward momentum out of me. You only have 800 meters to figure it out. You can't go sideways--it is about going forward. I'm really proud of my performance. I'm hungry for 2012.”

Maggie Vessey Women’s 800m Final
“I’m disappointed because I had a good race plan but my body was not as responsive as I had hoped in executing it...it’s sort of like learning about a weakness at an inopportune time which was unfortunate. I had all the good intentions to get it done but I’m coming around that corner but my legs are flat out heavy. I didn’t want to embarrass myself out here which was one of the things on the list I did not want to do. But when there is a medal on the line and that’s what you want to achieve its pretty much cut and dry whether you do or not.”

Head Women’s Coach Connie Price-Smith
“We had a lot of people who medaled who had previously not...Then there’s people like Demus (LaShinda) and Carmelita (Jeter) who finally won gold medals in their events...Allyson (Felix) did a fantastic job across the board...We had great performances all around the board. Both relays had great races. They came out and competed well. They were ready to run. They had great practices leading up to it.

“Everybody has been very focused, working hard and very positive. Knowing they had a job to do, they came in and did it. It is nice to take a deep breath and kind of sit back and reflect on everything that has happened. It’s been a good week here and I’m proud to be a part of it. The athletes were wonderful to work with.”

Head Men’s Coach Vin Lananna
“For 25 medals and keeping the United States as the world’s number one team, it’s spectacular. Every athlete, personal coach, every staff member should be excited and proud to be associated with the world’s number one team. And now we just need to continue to build good momentum going into London.”

Head Relay Coach Jon Drummond
“You know, misfortune happens. I don’t really know what happened, but that is track and field.
All I can say is our 4x400m men won gold, our 4x400m women won gold, our 4x100m women won the gold medal. We won.

"I’m not disappointed. Because Doc Patton got tripped. I mean if he had fallen on his own, then that would be disappointing. The reality is he got hit and he got tripped and his shoulder is dislocated. I got a chance to review the film, not as intense as I would like to, but from based on everything that I’ve seen and everyone basically expressed to me, Great Britain basically committed an infraction."


Team USA Medals

GOLD (12)
Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.), 17.96m/58-11.25, 9/4
W4x100 relay (Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers, Carmelita Jeter), 41.56, 9/4
W4x400 relay (Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix, Jessica Beard, Francena McCorory), 3:18.09, 9/3
M4x400 relay (Greg Nixon, Bershawn Jackson, Angelo Taylor, Lashawn Merritt), 2:59.31, 9/2
Dwight Phillips (Snellville, Ga.), MLJ, 8.45m/27-8.75, 9/2
Lashinda Demus (Palmdale, Calif.), W400H, 52.47AR, 9/1
Jenny Simpson (Colorado Springs, Colo.), W1500, 4:05.40, 9/1
Jesse Williams (Eugene, Ore.), MHJ, 2.35m/7-8.5, 9/1
Carmelita Jeter (Gardena, Calif.), W100, 10.90, 8/29
Jason Richardson (Inglewood, Calif.), M110H, 13.16, 8/29
Trey Hardee (Austin, Texas), Decathlon, 8607, 8/28
Brittney Reese (Gulfport, Miss.), WLJ, 6.82m/22-4.5, 8/28

SILVER (8)
Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.), M500m, 13:23.64, 9/4
Walter Dix (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), M200, 19.70, 9/3
Danielle Carruthers (Kennesaw, Ga.), W100H, 12.47PR, 9/3
Carmelita Jeter (Gardena, Calif.), W200, 22.37, 9/2
Lashawn Merritt (Suffolk, Va.), M400, 44.63, 8/30
Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.), W400, 49.59PR, 8/29
Ashton Eaton (Eugene, Ore.), Decathlon, 8505, 8/28
Walter Dix (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), M100, 10.08, 8/28

BRONZE (5)
Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.), MTJ, 17.50m/57-5, 9/4
Dawn Harper (Los Angeles, Calif.), W100H, 12.47PR, 9/3
Matt Centrowitz (Arnold, Md.), M1500, 3:36.08, 9/3
Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.), W200, 22.42, 9/2
Jillian Camarena-Williams (Tucson, Ariz.), WSP, 20.02m/65-8.25, 8/29

Team USA Superlatives

WOMEN

12 is most medals by USA women’s team ever at World Outdoors (previous high 11 in 1993)
6 is most golds by USA women’s team ever at World Outdoors (5 in 1993, ’95 and 2005)
First medal ever in women’s shot put at World Outdoors
First gold in women’s 1,500 since 1983
Highest placings ever by U.S. women at worlds in shot put (3rd) and discus (5th); tied highest in 800 (4TH) and 5,000 (7th)
American record in women’s 400m hurdles
MEN

First gold in men’s high jump since 1991
Record fourth gold for Dwight Phillips in men’s LJ
First 1-2 performance in decathlon
First time USA won two medals in MTJ since 1991 (Kenny Harrison and Michael Conley, 1-3)
OVERALL
25 medals is second-highest medal total at Worlds for Team USA (26 in 1991 and 2007)
Team USA strength in jumps, winning MHJ, MTJ, MLJ an WLJ

For complete results visit www.iaaf.org


About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.

This email was sent to: keithconning@aol.com
This email was sent by: USA Track & Field
132 East Washington Street, Suite 800, Indianapolis, IN 46204