US Olympic Team sprinter LaShawn Merritt, who prepared for the Rio 2016 Games at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, is off to a medaling start after his third-place finish in the men’s 400-meter final on Sunday.
Merritt secured the bronze medal with a time of 43.85 seconds, crossing the finish line after Grenada’s Kirani James (43.76), who had won gold in the event at the London 2012 Games, and South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, who ran a blistering 43.03-second race to win gold and set a new world record.
Former American sprinter Michael Johnson’s previous world record (43.18 seconds) had stood since 1999.
While Merritt fell short of his gold-medal goals for the 400-meter, he still has two more chances to earn medals for Team USA, with the men’s 200-meter and 4×400-meter relay.
Merritt, who regularly trains at Disney with other world-class sprinters under former US Olympic track coach Brooks Johnson, qualified for this year’s Olympic team after having missed the London Olympic Games in 2012 due to injury. At the 2008 Beijing Games, the veteran sprinter won the gold medal in the 400-meter and 4×400-meter relay.
