LaShawn Runs Year's Best 200m
by Matt Martino
This past Saturday, LaShawn Merritt put the world on notice: He's not just here to run the 400m.
The Olympic quarter mile champion breezed by the competition to win the 200m at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California.
In the process, he also set a new world best this season: 20.07 seconds.
"I knew I was in good shape when I came off the curve," LaShawn said, after cruising to the finish line ahead of fellow Americans Xavier Carter (20.71) and Kelly Willie (20.73).
"As long as they didn't get away from me, I knew I would be in a good position to strike when I wanted to. And that's what I did. It wasn't really about the time. I just wanted to win the race and test my speed."
Due to his performance in a non-traditional event, LaShawn was named the Team USA Athlete of the Meet, presented by Visa.
LaShawn did not run the 400m at the Adidas meet. His rival, Jeremy Wariner, did and won the event with a time of 44.66 seconds, the second best in the world this year behind LaShawn (44.50). This season, the two have yet to race a 400m event against each other.
RELATED STORIES
Lagat, Wariner and Merritt shine at Carson (Guardian.co.uk, May 17, 2009)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/8511474
Athletics: Merritt and Felix shine brightest among the stars in LA (Runner’s Web, May 17, 2009)
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_news_frameset.html?http://www.runne...
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