Olympics athletics: Youngster Kirani James of Grenada wins 400m gold

London: It was carribean domination in the 400m final as the youngster Kirani James of Grenada took gold with an impressive timing of 43.94s beating another youngster, 19-yr old Luguelin Santos of Dominican Republic who took silver and Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago who took bronze.

The 19-year-old James, the reigning world champion and a two-time NCAA champion for the University of Alabama, finished in 43.94 seconds. Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic earned the silver in 44.46, giving that country its second medal of the London Games shortly after Felix Sanchez won the 400-meter hurdles. Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago got the 400 bronze. The U.S. had won the past seven Olympic titles in the men`s 400, dating to 1984, but none of the three American entrants qualified for Monday`s final. That included 2008 champion LaShawn Merritt, who pulled up with an injury in his opening heat.