Olympic 400m champ James to lead Grenada at Worlds

Olympic 400 metres champion Kirani James will lead a three-member Grenada team, announced by the Grenada Athletics Association, for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Beijing between August 22 to 30.

James, who won the event in Daegu, South Korea in 2011, is among the leading favourites for the highly anticipated 400 metres title, CMC reported on Wednesday.

He will be joined by another quarter-miler Bralon Taplin and Commonwealth and Pan American Games medallist Kurt Felix, who will compete in the Decathlon.

James, who also holds the Commonwealth Games (CWG) record, has clocked the second fastest time this year of 43.95 seconds, bettered only by Isaac Makwala of Botswana, who clocked 43.72 seconds.

The Grenadian has lost only once since May 2014 when he was beaten by South African Wayde van Niekerk at the IAAF Diamond League in Parish on July 4.

Taplin, who has been plagued by a sore back, clocked a sub-45 seconds this year when he finished second to James in 44.89 seconds at the Sun Angel Classic in Arizona in April.

Felix, the national record holder in the multi-events, won bronze at the 2014 CWG in Glasgow and added a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto last month with a personal best of 8269 points.

The World Championships take place at the famous "Bird's Nest" stadium which was also the venue for track and field events in the 2008 Olympic games.