Kirani James

Kirani James

Kirani James at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics
Personal information
Nationality	Grenada
Born	(1992-09-01) 1 September 1992 Gouyave, Saint John, Grenada
Residence	Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	Sprint
College team	Alabama Crimson Tide
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	200 m: 20.41 (El Paso 2011) 400 m: 43.94 (London 2012)
Medal record Men's athletics Competitor for  Grenada Olympic Games Gold 2012 London 400 m World Championships Gold 2011 Daegu 400 m World Junior Championships Gold 2010 Moncton 400 m Silver 2008 Bydgoszcz 400 m Pan American Junior Championships Gold 2009 Port-of-Spain 400 m Gold 2011 Miramar 200 m CARIFTA Games (Junior) Gold 2009 Vieux Fort 400 m Gold 2010 George Town 200 m Gold 2010 George Town 400 m Bronze 2009 Vieux Fort 4×400 m relay World Youth Championships Gold 2009 Brixen 200 m Gold 2009 Brixen 400 m Silver 2007 Ostrava 400 m Commonwealth Youth Games Gold 2008 Pune 400 m CARIFTA Games (Youth) Gold 2007 Providenciales 400 m Gold 2008 Basseterre 200 m Gold 2008 Basseterre 400 m

Kirani James (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian sprinter who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and is the reigning Olympic champion, winning the 400 metres at London 2012.^[1] He was Grenada's first Olympic medalist in any sport.^[2]

Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400 m times ever by a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. He won a series of gold medals at the CARIFTA Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games and rose on the international stage with 400 m silver medals at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships. James became the first athlete to run a 200/400 double at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was the 2010 World Junior Champion.

James received an athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama and won back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championship titles in his first two years. He is the third fastest of all-time indoors (44.80 seconds) and ran a personal best of 43.94 at the 2012 Olympic Games. James is one of only nine athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels and David Storl) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Career

Youth career

At the age of 14 James won the gold medal in the 400 m at the 2007 CARIFTA Games in the under 17 category with a time of 47.86 seconds. He went on to win silver medals at the 2007 World Youth Championships with a time of 46.96 s, a time which is the fastest run by a 14-year-old.

In April 2008 he defended his CARIFTA 400 m title, winning the 200 metres with a time of 21.38 s. In July that year, he won a silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships with a time of 45.70 s, which is his personal best nation youth and junior record and the fastest time ever run by a 15-year-old. In October, he won the gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with a new games record of 46.66 s.

James made his third CARIFTA Games appearance in 2009 and, in his under-20 debut, he defeated the defending 400 m champion and fellow Grenadian Rondell Bartholomew to win in a personal best of 45.45 s. This easily set a new championship record, beating Usain Bolt's six-year-old mark of 46.35 s.^[3][4] In consequence, he was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games.^[3][5]

James became the first youth athlete to complete a 200/400 metres double gold at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics. Noting that he would be a junior athlete for a further two years, he focused on upcoming events, pinpointing the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the 2012 Summer Olympics as future goals.^[6] Following this, he won the 400 m at the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships.^[7] He was declared the 2009 Grenada Sportsman of the Year.^[8]

College athletics

At least ten colleges in the United States had expressed strong interest in recruiting James for their track team, including Baylor, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida State, and Arizona State.^[9] He accepted a scholarship offer from Alabama and in his first ever appearance on an indoor track he ran a 45.79 in the 400 meters, placing first and breaking the 10-year-old school record of 46.46 held by Cori Loving.^[10]

James ran a new indoor personal best of 20.94 in the 200 m dash at the Texas A&M Challenge at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas on 13 February 2010.^[11] He was runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing behind Torrin Lawrence. James lowered his 400 m personal best to 45.02 s at the 2010 CARIFTA Games, where he took a 200/400 m double,^[12] and improved further to 45.01 in winning the SEC Championships 400 m title. He claimed the gold medal over 400 m at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but stated he was only running for times and was not satisfied with his winning performance of 45.89 seconds.^[13] He won the NCAA Outdoor Championship title in his first year of collegiate competition.^[14]

James moved up to third on the all-time indoor lists in February 2011, recording 44.80 seconds to win at the SEC Indoor Championships. This left only Michael Johnson and Kerron Clement as the faster athletes indoors, and also bettered LaShawn Merritt's previous world best junior time of 44.93 seconds.^[15] He failed to reach the podium at the NCAA Indoor meet as he clashed with another athlete and fell mid-race.^[16] He managed to repeat as the collegiate champion outdoors, however, as he edged ahead of Gil Roberts by one hundredth of a second.^[17] After the end of the college season, he made his professional debut at the London Grand Prix Diamond League meeting and established himself among the world's best with a personal best run of 44.61 seconds – a time which made him the fastest man that year.^[18]

Professional career

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, both James and fellow Grenadian runner Rondell Bartholomew made the finals of the 400m event. James won the event in a personal best of 44.60 seconds, becoming the youngest 400m world champion at the age of 18.^[19][20] The medal is the first for Grenada in any event at the World championships in athletics.^[20] Nine days later, James won the 400m at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League in Zürich with a new personal best of 44.36 seconds.

At the London 2012 Olympics, James won the 400m semi final 2, achieving a season best of 44.59 seconds. At the end of the race, James exchanged name tags with double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius as a sign of respect for him.^[21]

On 6 August 2012, James won the 400m Olympic gold in a time of 43.94, a national record, earning Grenada its first Olympic medal. He was the first non-US runner to break the 44-second mark.^[22] World record holder Michael Johnson said, following the race, that James stood a chance of beating his record if he was able to deal with the remaining flaws in his technique.^[2] James described his win as "a huge step for our country in terms of stepping up to the plate in track and field, just going out there and putting us on the map."^[22]

His domestic reception proved to be a euphoric one. Thousands lined the street in preparation of his return, and he was greeted with an emphatic and vociferous national pride.^[23] Also upon his arrival the Prime Minister Tillman Thomas announced Mr. James would be bequeathed government bonds totaling up to EC500,000, a commemorative stamp be crafted in his honor, a new stadium be named for him, and that he would be appointed a tourism ambassador.^[24]

In December 2012, James and Jamaica's Usain Bolt were named co-sportsmen of the year by Caribbean Journal.^[25]

Personal bests

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Grenada
2007	CARIFTA Games (U-17)	Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands	6th	200 m	22.10   (1.2 m/s)
			1st	400 m	47.86
	World Youth Championships	Ostrava, Czech Republic	2nd	400 m	46.96 PB
2008	CARIFTA Games (U-17)	Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis	1st	200 m	21.38   (2.0 m/s)
			1st	400 m	47.87
	World Junior Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	2nd	400 m	45.70
	Commonwealth Youth Games	Pune, India	1st	400 m	46.66
2009	CARIFTA Games (U-20)	Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia	DQ (h)	200 m
			1st	400 m	45.45 CR
			DQ (h)	4x100 m relay
			3rd	4x400 m relay	3:11.93
	World Youth Championships	Brixen, Italy	1st	200 m	21.05   (-0.9 m/s)
			1st	400 m	45.24
2010	CARIFTA Games (U-20)	George Town, Cayman Islands	1st	200 m	20.76   (0.8 m/s)
			1st	400 m	45.02 CR
2011	World Athletics Championships	Daegu, South Korea	1st	400 m	44.60
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	6th	400m	46.21
	2012 Summer Olympics	London	1st	400m	43.94 PB, NR
2013	World Athletics Championships	Moscow, Russia	7th	400 m	44.99

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kirani James.

• Kirani James profile at IAAF
• Alabama Crimson Tide biography

Olympic Games
Preceded by Alleyne Francique	Flagbearer for  Grenada London 2012	Succeeded by Incumbent