page_title: LaShawn Merritt
section_title: Olympic champion and Wariner duels
hierarchical_section_title: LaShawn Merritt / Biography / Olympic champion and Wariner duels
caption_attribution_description: English: LaShawn Merritt finishing the 400m almost 1 second before Jeremy Wariner (out of the picture), august 21st 2008 at the Bird's nest, Beijing Français&#160;: LaShawn Merritt à l'arrivée du 400m qu'il termine presque une seconde devant Jeremy Wariner le 21 août 2008 au nid d'oiseau, Pékin
context_page_description: LaShawn Merritt is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him the ninth fastest of all time.
  He was a successful junior athlete and won the 400 m gold at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics, as well as setting two world junior records in the relays. He became part of the American 4×400 meter relay team and helped win the event at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He established himself individually in 2007 by winning a silver medal in the 400 m at the 2007 World Championships.
  He came out on top of a rivalry with Jeremy Wariner in 2008 by winning in the 2008 Olympic final in a personal best time, and by a record margin of 0.99 secs. He also broke the Olympic record in the relay with the American team, recording the second fastest time ever. Merritt established himself as the World Champion with a win at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in the 400 m and the 4×400 m relay.
context_section_description: Merritt's 2008 season was distinguished by a considerable rivalry with Wariner, who had won the 400  m at every major global championship since 2004. The 2008 IAAF Golden League provided the venue for many of their duels. He scored his first major win over Wariner in a close affair at the Internationales Stadionfest in Berlin. He confirmed his Olympic place a month later by winning at the 2008 United States Olympic Trials, again defeating the reigning Olympic champion Wariner. Later in July at the Golden Gala meeting, Wariner responded by edging a win in the 400  m by just 0.01  seconds. At the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris, the last Golden League competition before the Olympics, Wariner seemed to have the momentum behind him after a win in 43.86  seconds.
  Merritt won the 400 m at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. A close race between Merritt and Wariner was expected, though it ultimately ended in a rout. The 0.99-second margin between Merritt's first-place finish and Wariner's second-place finish was the largest in an Olympic 400  m final. His time of 43.75, a new personal best, made him the fifth fastest 400  m runner on the all-time lists, still two places behind Wariner, who is third on the all-time list of fastest runners. He teamed up with Wariner, Angelo Taylor and 400  m bronze medallist David Neville for the men's 4 × 400 m relay. The team defeated the Olympic record mark which had stood since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics by running a time of 2:55.39, the second fastest in the history of the event.
  Weeks after the Olympics, he lost to Wariner by a large margin at the Weltklasse Zürich, although Wariner's winning time of 43.82  seconds was still slower than Merritt's Olympic winning run. Merritt secured his fourth win over Wariner that season at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. Although the two had both beaten each other that season, Merritt had won all the most important races, ending the season as the Olympic and American champion over 400  m as well as taking home the World Athletics Final payday. He opted to miss out on the 2009 indoor season to focus on improving his running and technique.
caption: Merritt winning 2008 Olympic gold, a second ahead of Jeremy Wariner
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