American O’Neal Wilder went into the final of the 400m as a red hot favourite, but he was eclipsed by his compatriot Marcus Boyd.
Despite running far out in lane eight, Boyd, who is a training partner of Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, took nearly half a second off his PB to run the fastest time by an under-20 this year, 45.53.
Wilder, who had beaten the new champion at the US junior trials for this event, had previously been the quickest in the world. The best of his opponents were half a second slower than him on form, but he failed to make an impact in lane four.
Boyd said: “It was an advantage to have an outside lane. The plan was to run away from everyone and it worked. I made my move at 250 metres as usual. I feel bad for O’Neal, but now I am the world leader.”
Boyd took the 400m title back to the United States after they had won the men’s one-lap event on five of the last nine occasions before Trinidad’s Renny Quow took gold in 2006.
Grenada’s Kirani James continued his huge improvement to gain silver with a national junior record of 45.70.
James’ time of 46.96 to pick up silver at the World Youth Championships last year remained his PB before these championships, although he advanced to 46.53 in his heat.
Wilder, who like many young US athletes is also a talented American footballer, was struggling to pinpoint any particular problem.
“I was a little tight coming into the race, but there’s no single reason for why I didn’t win,” he said. “I’m happy there was an American victory in the race.”
Paul Halford for the IAAF
Despite running far out in lane eight, Boyd, who is a training partner of Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, took nearly half a second off his PB to run the fastest time by an under-20 this year, 45.53.
Wilder, who had beaten the new champion at the US junior trials for this event, had previously been the quickest in the world. The best of his opponents were half a second slower than him on form, but he failed to make an impact in lane four.
Boyd said: “It was an advantage to have an outside lane. The plan was to run away from everyone and it worked. I made my move at 250 metres as usual. I feel bad for O’Neal, but now I am the world leader.”
Boyd took the 400m title back to the United States after they had won the men’s one-lap event on five of the last nine occasions before Trinidad’s Renny Quow took gold in 2006.
Grenada’s Kirani James continued his huge improvement to gain silver with a national junior record of 45.70.
James’ time of 46.96 to pick up silver at the World Youth Championships last year remained his PB before these championships, although he advanced to 46.53 in his heat.
Wilder, who like many young US athletes is also a talented American footballer, was struggling to pinpoint any particular problem.
“I was a little tight coming into the race, but there’s no single reason for why I didn’t win,” he said. “I’m happy there was an American victory in the race.”
Paul Halford for the IAAF
