Chinese Olympic champion Liu Xiang stays in gold bracket

“I have been waiting for so long to run such a time, to run under 22 seconds,” Felix said.

It wasn’t all America’s day at the championships though. Running in the outside lane 9, Liu Xiang proved why he is the Olympic champion and world record holder and won China’s first gold at the championships.

In an event where discipline is everything, he even took time to look to his left twice and see that competition was out of sight before crossing in 12.95 seconds. Terrence Trammell, a silver-medal specialist at major events, finished second in 12.99 ahead of US teammate David Payne in third place.

China and its 1.3 billion population has picked a star for next year’s Beijing Olympics, and Liu could not disappoint. “I had to win the gold,” Liu said. “Now I will have even more pressure than before. But this is something I will need to get over to keep going.”

Days after skipping the 100 to concentrate on the 200 meters, Felix had all the power her competitors lacked in the straightaway and win a second successive world championships gold at the distance.

Her face intense with concentration, she let go of a big “yes” and broke into an immediate smile once she streaked across the line.

Campbell had to settle for silver after winning gold in the 100, the toil of 8 races in 6 days started weighing heavily on her after the bend. Felix swept away and, keeping her lithe body and elegant stride under control, won the United States’ seventh gold medal of the meet.

Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka won bronze in 22.63. Americans filled fourth and fifth places with Torri Edwards in 22.65 and Sanya Richards in 22.70.

Then came the 1-2-3 US finish in the 400. Wariner held lane 6 with the two other US runners focusing on him as an ideal target. None could get close though.

Impassive as ever behind the shiny glasses, Wariner moved mechanically like a cyber runner around the Nagai stadium, steadily building up his lead and closing in further on the 43.18 world record of his mentor Michael Johnson.

“All the goals I have for myself. I want to break the world record. I want to be the first to go sub-43,” he said.

The medal sweep proved that, barring a dropped baton, the US team will be as good as gold in the 1,600 relay on Sunday. On Saturday, double sprint gold medalist Tyson Gay will be going for a third at Osaka. The 400 relay team didn’t drop the baton, didn’t run outside their lanes and easily qualified for Saturday’s final when Gay will run the anchor leg.