Jamaica wins 4X400 relay
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In the closing event of the championship, Jamaica finished in 3 minutes, 05.21 seconds. Russia had 3:06.23 and Ireland 3:10.44. The U.S. team initially finished third in 3:08.96 but was later disqualified.
The United States had won five of the last six titles but lost the baton on the last handover. Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia added the long jump title to her triple jump gold medal to complete an unprecedented double at the indoor World Championship on Sunday, while Gail Devers failed in her own bid for a unique double.
Olympic champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique also made history, becoming the first athlete in history to win six indoor titles when she captured the 800 meters.
Russian women set a world record in the 1,600-meter relay in 3 minutes, 23.88 seconds, easily beating their old mark of 3:24.25. Russian anchor Natalya Nazarova also won gold in the 400.
Christian Olsson of Sweden equaled the world triple jump indoor record of 17.83 meters to win gold, matching the mark of Cuba's Aliecer Urrutia.
Russia won five of the 15 finals on the last day of the three-day competition to finish with eight golds. The United States had four golds in a total of 10, second to Russia's 19. Other winners on the final day were Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in the heptathlon; Christian Cantwell of the United States in the shot put; Yelena Slesarenko of Russia in the high jump; Paul Korir of Kenya in the 1,500; Meseret Defar of Ethiopia in the women's 3,000; Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa in the men's 800; Igor Pavlov of Russia in the pole vault; Dominic Demeritte of the Bahamas in the men's 200, and Anastasiya Kapachinskaya of Russia in the women's 200.
The U.S. men's 1,600 relay team was disqualified after botching the last handover from Joe Mendel to Godfrey Herring. The Americans were neck-to-neck to Jamaica but lost the baton. Herring recovered it to finish third, but the team was later disqualified. Jamaica won the gold, ahead of Russia and Ireland.
Devers had won the 60-meter sprint on the opening day Friday and needed to take Sunday's 60-meter hurdles to become the first athlete to complete such a double at indoor worlds. Unbeaten all winter in the hurdles, the American dominated the heats and the semifinal earlier in the day and looked like a certain bet to win gold.
She was the first American to achieve the double at last weekend's U.S. nationals. But she had to settle for silver, finishing .03 seconds behind Perdita Felicien of Canada. "I wasn't pleased with my start. My sprinting made my hurdling technique suffer," Devers said.
