OSAKA, Japan -- Allyson Felix became only the second woman to win three gold medals at a single world championships meet, helping the United States to victory in the women's 4x400-meter relay.
The Americans won in 3 minutes, 18.55 seconds Sunday, with Jamaica taking silver in 3:19.73 and Britain finishing strongly to edge Russia for bronze.
Felix ran a perfect second leg, starting out in about third position and giving the United States nearly a 33-feet gap over Jamaica at the handover.
It was her third gold in as many days after winning the 200 meters Friday night and being part of Saturday's winning 4x100 relay.
The only other female athlete to achieve a golden triple was Marita Koch of the former East Germany during the inaugural world championships in 1983.
Felix wasn't the only U.S. sprinter to earn entry into the record books. While all talk was about possible doubles, and even triple gold-medal hauls, Bernard Lagat did something no one had ever done.Lagat became the first 1,500-5,000 double winner in world championships history, biding his time in the 5,000 meters before kicking for home while keeping watch for challengers on the stadium screen.
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge tried but failed, and soon Lagat was pointing one finger up from each hand, celebrating a remarkable double.
The American had to qualify for the 5,000 final, just one day after winning his 1,500 gold.
After winning silver and bronze for Kenya in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, it was double gold for the United States only days after Lagat became eligible to compete for his adopted country.
If the medal for the most improved athlete goes to 32-year-old Lagat, the most improved nation is Kenya.
Two years after earning its only gold on the final day of competition, marathon runner Catherine Ndereba and 800 champion Alfred Yego took their nation's gold-medal tally up to five. That moved Kenya past Russia into second position in the medal tables behind the all conquering U.S. team.
Behind Ndereba, Zhou Chunxiu won China's third medal of the meet when she could not match the Kenyan's final rush. And on the last day, Reiko Tosa earned the host nation's only medal -- not a hoped for gold, but bronze.
And hopes for a doping-free championships were dashed Sunday when the IAAF announced there had been one "suspicious" test that needed further investigation. No details were provided.
If there was one constant of the nine-day championships it was the weather, and much like the first day, athletes continued to complain about the 85-plus degree temperatures.
"This was one of the toughest marathons I've ever run because of the weather," said Ndereba, the 2003 world champion and 2005 silver medalist. "The heat was a huge factor," said Zhou, already looking ahead to next year's Olympics on home turf. "Ndereba finished ahead of me this time, but hopefully when we meet again in Beijing I'll be ahead of her."
In the medal standings, the United States was leading with 12 gold and 23 overall, ahead of Kenya and Russia.
Bahrain also got into the gold medal table. After 2005 double champion Rachid Ramzi only got one silver, Ethiopian-born Maryam Jamal moved past early pacesetter Yelena Soboleva of Russia about 250 meters out in the women's 1,500 to give her adopted country its only title of the championships.
The 800 was thrilling up to the line. Gary Reed took the early initiative and seemed ready to clinch Canada's first gold, but Yego failed to give up, steadily reducing the margin before winning by .01 seconds. Olympic champion Yuri Borzakovsky of Russia took bronze.
Tyson Gay achieved his golden triple Saturday in the 400 relays, joining Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene as the only men to do it.
In the final event, the U.S. men's relays team will look for the only world record of the championships. It would give Wariner his second gold of the championships after winning the 400. Kerron Clement, the 400 hurdles champion, also would win double gold because he ran in Saturday's heats.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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