Wariner, Liu win gold medals at world athletics championships

OSAKA—Jeremy Wariner and Liu Xiang lived up to their reputations Friday by winning world championship gold medals as Allyson Felix successfully defended her 200m title, but records remained intact.
American Wariner had Michael Johnson's world mark of 43.18 seconds in his sights but narrowly missed it to cross the line in 43.45, his fastest time ever. Teammate LaShawn Merritt took silver in 43.96, a personal best, with another American Angelo Taylor getting bronze to put three United States athletes on the 400m world podium for the first time.
"My coach told me to execute in the best possible way and I did it," said Wariner. "I had great finish. Sweep means a lot to me and US athletics. I knew I would ran a fast time, I knew I could do new personal best. "The world record, it will come when it should come."
China's Liu, like Wariner an Olympic champion, blazed to the 110m hurdles title in 12.95 seconds, but outside his own 12.88 world record. Terrence Trammell of the United States came second in 12.99 with another American David Payne third in 13.02. It was a step forward for Liu who took silver in 2005 and bronze in 2003.
"During the race I made some mistakes and hit some hurdles, so I didn't really run that well," he said. "I could have run better, but I ran well enough. Winning the championship is what matters the most. I wanted to let people know the speed that Asia has." Felix flew over the finish line in 21.81 seconds to become the first woman under 22 seconds in the 200m since fellow American Inger Miller's 21.77 to win gold in 1999.
She powered thorugh the last 50m to leave Jamaica's Veronica Campbell, the 100m champion, in her wake. Campbell finished in 22.34 with Sri Lanka's Susanthika Jayasinghe, Asia's most female decorated sprinter who won the 1997 world silver and the 2000 Olympic bronze, third in 22.63. Her victory deprived Campbell of joining Silke Gladisch (1987) and Katrin Krabbe (1991) as the only women to achieve the double.
"I feel so good, I am so excited. I have been waiting for so long to run such a time, to run under 22 seconds. it has not been an easy road, but finally I managed," said Felix. "My next goal is not the world record, but a gold in Beijing. I want to take it step by step. I might consider to do both -- the 200 and the 400 metres -- there." Cuba's Yargelis Savigne won the women's triple jump with a leap of 15.28 metres, ending any hope Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva had of an unprecedented long jump and triple jump double.
Lebedeva, who won gold in 2001 and 2003, came second with 15.07 while Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece was third. The Czech Republic's Barbora Spotakova speared gold in the javelin, heaving 67.07 metres to beat Germany's European record holder Christina Obergfoll who threw 66.46. Another German, Steffi Nerius, took bronze in 64.42. Earlier, Russia added another gold to its glittering collection when Olga Kaniskina announced herself as a new force to be reckoned with by winning the women's 20km walk.
The 22-year-old beat teammate and training partner Tatyana Shemyakina by 33 seconds, battling through heat, wind and rain to cross the line in 1 hour 30.09 seconds, almost five minutes outside world record pace. Spain's Maria Vaco took the bronze. "I was going on my pace, in my race. I was not watching the others, just my own with the goal to win," said Kaniskina.
"To be world champion after 2.5 years of serious walking training is great." Bahrain's defending 800m champion Rashid Ramzi crashed out of the event at the semi-final stage, fading badly to finish his heat last. He has now surrendered both his 800m and 1,500m titles here. Kenya's Alfred Kirwa Yego heads into Sunday's final as the fastest qualifier.—Agencies