OSAKA — We already know Tyson Gay is the World's Fastest Man. So who's the fastest one-lap runner on the planet?
American Jeremy Wariner, seen here in his semifinal heat on Wednesday, took the gold in the 400 meters at
the world championships on Friday night at Osaka's Nagai Stadium. Wariner won in a time of 43.45 seconds.
AP PHOTO The United States' Jeremy Wariner answered that question at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships on Friday night.
Entering the meet, Wariner, the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist, was the overwhelming favorite to win the race.
He didn't blaze by the competition at the beginning.
It wasn't a necessary tactic.
Instead, he made his victory-producing move in the final quarter of the race.
In the final 100 meters, he found an extra gear of speed, blazing past all competitors and winning the race in a season-best 43.45 seconds. That's now the third-fastest 400 of all time.
Wariner, the 2005 world champ, beat teammate LaShawn Merritt by two long strides. Merritt's race was over in 43.96 seconds. Angelo Taylor completed the Americans' 1-2-3 sweep in 44.32.
Another question has been discussed in Danish and Swahili, Japanese, and English and dozens of other language in recent days: Will Wariner break his agent Michael Johnson's world record of 43.18 seconds in Osaka?
This time, the answer is no.
That record has stood since Aug. 26, 1999, at the IAAF World Championships in Seville, Spain, when Johnson was 31.
Time is on 23-year-old Wariner's side. He hasn't reached his athletic prime yet.
So it's not a ridiculous assumption to think that he might be able to shave half a second off the world record within the next five years.
Wariner ran the fourth-fastest 400 (43.50) of all time on Aug. 7 in Stockholm, tying a mark set by compatriot Quincy Watts in 1992.
That confidence-boosting win came at the perfect time — three weeks before the Osaka meet.
"The confidence I have right now and how easy that 43.5 felt, I can go faster," Wariner was quoted as saying in a recent USA Today newspaper story. "I'm not going to be beaten unless I don't run my own race. There's no telling what I'll be able to do at the world championships now."
"If I run my race like I have been, like I did in Stockholm, like I have in the past few years, they're not going to beat me," Wariner said.
Friday night's eight-man final also included two guys from the Bahamas (Avard Moncur and Chris Brown), Canadian Tyler Christopher, Frenchman Leslie Djhone and Johan Wissman of Sweden.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.