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Journalism of Courage
US athletes won 21 medals, including nine gold medals, coming away with more victories than any other team at the World Junior Championships.
In the final day of competition on Sunday, the United States won four of the 11 finals contested before a capacity crowd of 35,000.
The United States won both the men8217;s and women8217;s 4x400m relays in easy fashion. The team of Kenneth Ferguson, Darold Williamson, Collins and Johnathan Fortenberry ran well through out to win in 3:03.71. They beat Jamaica 3:04.06 and Japan 3:05.80.
In the women8217;s event, anchor runner Lashinda Demus ran on strongly in the stretch to catch and beat Britain8217;s Lisa Miller. The Americans had seemed in danger of losing after moderate running by Christina Hardeman and Monique Henderson, but the third-leg runner, Tiffany Ross, produced a strong run to give Demus a good chance going into the final 400m.
The US team won in a national junior record of 3:29.45. Britain took second in 3:30.46, and Russia came in third with 3:30.72.
Earlier, Cuba8217;s Anay Tejeda won the women8217;s 100m hurdles in 12.81 secs. Poland8217;s Agnieszka Frankowska was second in 13.16 secs, while Tina Klein of Germany took the bronze with a run of 13.23 secs. Antwon Hicks of the United States won the 110m hurdles in 13.42 secs ahead of Donpeng Shi of China 13.58 secs and Shamar Sands of the Bahamas 13.67 secs.
Athletes from Africa maintained their dominance in the long and middle-distance races, winning both 1,500m finals. The women8217;s event went to Viola Kibiwot of Kenya in a personal best time of 4:12.57.
The silver went to Berhane Herpassa of Ethiopia 4:13.59 with third going to Olesya Syreva of Russia in a personal best time of 4:14.32.
