James claims victory over rivals in Shanghai

SHANGHAI (AFP) –

Grenada’s Kirani James celebrates after winning the men’s 400m final on August 6, 2012 in London. James powered to victory against his controversial predecessor and his main rivals from London 2012 in the 400m at Shanghai’s Diamond League meet on Saturday.

Olympic champion Kirani James powered to victory against his controversial predecessor and his main rivals from London 2012 in the 400m at Shanghai’s Diamond League meet on Saturday.

James, from Grenada, raced ahead on the final bend to edge 2008 Olympic champion, the USA’s Lashawn Merritt, into second place.

Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, the silver medallist from last summer’s Games, was third, more than a second behind James, who crossed the line at a season’s best 44.02.

The bronze medalist from London, Trinidad and Tobago’s Lalonde Gordon, finished in fifth place.

Merritt would have been well known to fans in a damp Shanghai Stadium after he claimed gold at in China’s showcase Olympics in Beijing.

But he has endured a torrid time after the 2008 Games, serving a 21-month ban for a positive doping test that he blamed on a “male-enhancement product”.

He successfully challenged the IOC’s ban on former drug users to compete in London, only to pull out injured during the heats.

“Considering it was my first 400m this year, I am still getting familiar with the game,” he said after the race in Shanghai.

“So I feel not bad about the result. It’s a long season and it’s just beginning.”

In another re-run between gold and silver medallists from London 2012, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce claimed victory in the 100m ahead of rival Carmelita Jeter, with the American settling for third place. Nigerian Blessing Okagbare finished second.

Fraser-Pryce claimed a season’s best time of 10.93 in Shanghai, the second meet of the Diamond League calendar.

“I feel very relaxed. I came here to win and just see how I would do” she said after her win.

The double Olympic champion also said she would race in both the 100m and 200m at the World Championships in Moscow in August.

“I am planning to do both. I will do the best I can and God will do the rest,” she said.