Helsinki, Finland – Fittingly, the last event of the world track and field championships went to the Americans.
The 1,600-meter relay team, anchored by 21-year- old Jeremy Wariner, raced to victory Sunday night, a record 14th gold medal for the United States in the nine-day competition.
“I was fortunate to have a great bunch of guys running with me,” Wariner said. “Each leg put each other in a great position.”
The team of Andrew Rock, Derrick Brew, Darold Williamson and Wariner won in 2 minutes, 56.91 seconds. The Bahamas was second at 2:57.32, followed by Jamaica in 2:58.07.
The U.S. gold haul surpassed the previous record of 13 set at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. With two botched relays, the Americans still wound up with 25 medals overall, one shy of the record 26 they won at the 1991 worlds in Tokyo.
The day’s events began with a race of atonement for Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who led almost from the start to win the marathon, the first worldwide triumph for the world record-holder.
Radcliffe failed to finish the marathon last year at the Athens Olympics.
Osleidys Menendez of Cuba was the third to set a world record at the meet, breaking her own javelin mark with a heave of 235 feet, 3 inches on her first attempt. She set the previous mark of 234-8 in 2001.
Russia had a big final day to finish second in the medals competition with 20.
Russian women went 1-2 in the 1,500, with defending champion Tatyana Tomashova beating Olga Yegorova for the gold.
In the absence of the United States, the women’s 1,600-meter relay was won by Russia in 3:20.95.
Olympic silver medalist Matt Hemingway, who grew up in Buena Vista, made an early exit from the high jump, tying for 11th at 7-2 1/2 with Finland’s Oskari Frosen. Yuriy Krymarenko of Ukraine won with a height of 7-7 1/4.
