KIRANI JAMES

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 the 2012 London Olympics. He is Grenada's first and only Olympic medalist.

 

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 win a 200/400 double at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was the 2010 World Junior Champion.

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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 43.74 at a 2014 Diamond League event in Lausanne. James is one of only nine athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.