Kirani James

Kirani James
Kirani James at the 2011 World Championships
nation	Grenada
birthday	1st September 1992 (age 27)
place of birth	Gouyave , Grenada
size	191 cm
Weight	80 kg
Career
discipline	sprint
Best performance	20.41 s ( 200 m ) 43.74 s ( 400 m )
society	Alabama Crimson Tide
Trainer	Harvey Glance
status	active
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 1 × 0 × World championships 1 × 0 × 1 × Commonwealth Games 1 × 0 × 0 × U20 world championships 1 × 1 × 0 × U18 world championships 1 × 1 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold London 2012 400 m silver Rio de Janeiro 2016 400 m  World championships gold Daegu 2011 400 m bronze Beijing 2015 400 m  Commonwealth Games gold Glasgow 2014 400 m  Junior World Championships silver Bydgoszcz 2008 400 m gold Moncton 2010 400 m  Youth World Championships silver Ostrava 2007 400 m gold Brixen 2009 200 m gold Brixen 2009 400 m
last change: October 7, 2019

Most 400-meter runs under 44 seconds

rank	Track and field athlete	number
1.	Michael Johnson	22nd
2.	Jeremy Wariner	9
	LaShawn Merritt	9
4th	Kirani James	7th
5.	Wayde van Niekerk	6th
6th	Harry Reynolds	4th
	Quincy Watts	4th
	Isaac Makwala	4th
As of May 6, 2018

Kirani James (born September 1, 1992 in Gouyave ) is a Grenadian sprinter who specializes in the 400-meter run . Over this distance he became world champion in 2011 and Olympic champion the following year.

Athletic career

Youth and junior years

James made his first international appearance in 2007 at the age of 14 when he won the U17 title in 47.86 s in the 400-meter run at the CARIFTA Games on Providenciales and the U17 title in the 200 meters in 22.10 s took sixth place. He then took part in the World Youth Championships in Ostrava , where he won the silver medal in 46.96 s behind the British Christopher Clarke, who was almost three years his senior . James' time of 46.96 s was the fastest a 14-year-old had ever run over 400 meters. In the following year James successfully defended his title in the 400-meter run at the CARIFTA Games in Basseterre in 47.87 s and this time also won the 200 meters in 21.38 s. At the Junior World Championships in Bydgoszcz he was second with a new personal best of 45.70 s. At the end of the season he won the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 46.66 s. In his third participation in the CARIFTA Games in Vieux Fort , he started in the U20 age group for the first time. He won the 400-meter run in 45.45 s and undercut the six-year-old championship record of the Jamaican Usain Bolt by nine tenths of a second. In addition, he was disqualified over 200 meters and with the 4-by-100-meter relay, but won the bronze medal in the 4-by-400-meter relay in 3: 11.93 minutes. In addition, he then won the World Youth Championships in Brixen over 200 and 400 meters in 21.05 s and 45.25 s, which was also a new championship record. He also won the Pan American Junior Championships in Port of Spain in 45.43 s over 400 meters and finished fifth in the 4 x 400 meter relay in 3: 11.91 minutes. James chose Alabama State University from among several US colleges that offered athletic scholarships because of his outstanding achievements .

In April 2010, James won the 200 and 400-meter titles in the U20 age group at the CARIFTA Games in George Town and achieved personal bests in both competitions with 20.76 s and 45.02 s. Six weeks later he climbed 400 meters by a hundredth of a second. Subsequently, 45.89 s was enough for him to win the Junior World Championships in Moncton, Canada .

International success

At the end of February 2011, James increased his indoor best performance over 400 meters to 44.80 s and moved up to third place in the all-time indoor best list behind the Americans Michael Johnson and Kerron Clement . In July he entered the Central America and Caribbean Championships (CAC) in Mayagüez with the 4 x 400 meter relay, where he finished fifth with a new national record of 3: 04.27 minutes. In addition, he took part for the first time in the World Championships in Daegu , South Korea , where he won his parade route with a new personal best of 44.60 seconds, winning the first ever medal for Grenada. At the world class athletics meeting in Zurich he was able to improve again and ran a time of 44.36 s, whereupon the World Athletics Federation (IAAF) made him Young Athlete of the Year. In 2012 he took part in the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul , where he finished sixth in 46.21 s. He also qualified for the first time for the Olympic Games in London , where he won the gold medal with 43.94 seconds in the final . It was the first medal for Grenada in the history of the Olympic Games and at the same time its time was also a national record, world annual high and the fastest time since 2008.

In 2013, the 400 meter season was tailored to the duel between him and the American LaShawn Merritt . The two met in three races before the World Championships in Moscow . James was able to win two of the three duels, with a world record for the year in Paris with 43.96 seconds. At the world championships he ran safely into the finals; there he was - weakened by stomach problems - only seventh in 44.99 s and had to give Merritt the gold medal. At their last meeting of the year in Zurich , he had to admit defeat to his opponent again with 44.32 seconds. The following year, James played very few races, but secured the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July with a new player record of 44.24 s. In 2015 he regularly competed in Diamond League races and qualified again for participation in the World Championships in Beijing , where he won the bronze medal behind South African Wayde van Niekerk and LaShawn Merritt from the United States with a season best of 43.78 s in the final .

In 2016 he took part in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as defending champion and this time again made it to the final , in which he won the silver medal in 43.76 s behind van Niekerk, who set a new world record there with 43.03 s put up. After James could hardly contest competitions in 2017 and 2018 due to injury, he managed to qualify for the World Championships in Doha in 2019 , where he made it to the final , in which he finished fifth with 44.54 s.

In 2009, James became the Grenadian 400-meter champion, and in 2011 and 2011 he secured the college title in the United States of 400 meters. He was also the overall winner of the IAAF Diamond League in 2011 and 2015 .

Top performances

• 200 meters: 20.41 s, April 16, 2011 in El Paso ( Grenadian record )
  • 200 meters (indoor): 20.58 s, January 21, 2011 in Albuquerque ( Grenadian record )
• 400 meters 43.74 s, July 3, 2014 in Lausanne ( Grenadian record )
  • 400 meters (indoor): 44.80 s, February 27, 2011 in Fayetteville ( junior world record )

Web links

Commons : Kirani James  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kirani James in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Kirani James in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stabroek News: US colleges targeting Grenadian star James (English), April 19, 2009
2. ↑ Michael Butcher: Kirani James a Bolt from the Blue ( English ) IAAF. August 31, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
3. ^ IAAF: Bolt and Pearson are World Athletes of the Year - 2011 World Athletics Gala ( Memento of November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English), November 12, 2011
4. ↑ Pat Butcher: At 19, James grabs first Olympic gold for Grenada ( English ) IAAF. August 6, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
5. ↑ Chris Broadbent: James, Adams and Rutherford add Commonwealth gold to Olympic titles ( English ) IAAF. July 30, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
6. ↑ Len Johnson: Report: men's 400m final - IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 ( English ) IAAF. August 26, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2019.