By Dillon Vibes
Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt competed against each other in the 400 meters for the 19th time today at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. James, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in this event, narrowly beat Merritt, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, with a time of 44.22 seconds.
This was the 12th time James defeated Merritt at this distance and the third consecutive time he’s done it at the Pre Classic.
“When you have competition like that, you have to sit on your toes, you have to make sure every day of training is a serious day,” James said. “You give an athlete like that a little chance, and they’re going to take all the advantage from it.”
Both seem to agree that competing against one another is mutually beneficial. Merritt said going against each other brings out the best in them.
“Sometimes it doesn’t bring the most technical races out because were such competitors,” Merritt said.
James and Merritt’s string of competitions dates back to the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, where James took home gold at the age of 18, edging out Merritt by .03 seconds. A year later, the two faced off in London at the 2012 Olympic Games. James again took gold, becoming the first athlete from his home country of Grenada to ever win an Olympic medal.
“People back home are really proud of that achievement,” James said.
James said he doesn’t feel any additional pressure going into the Rio de Janeiro Olympics later this year.
“It’s not going to be any different come Rio,” he said. “People are going to be proud of me regardless.”
While Merritt believes racing against James is beneficial, he said the competition between them won’t affect his preparation for the Olympic trials and Rio.
“I hear about the number of times where we’ve lined up and who’s won, but I could care less about that,” he said. “It’s about getting to these big races and showing up.”
Merritt will take a couple of weeks off of competition to get in some solid training before the trials. James plans to race the Birmingham Diamond League meet next week in England.
James looks forward to hopefully running against Merritt in Rio. He feels that the competition is not only advantageous for him personally but for the sport as a whole.
“At the end of the day the sport wins, the event wins,” he said. “As long as there is something that we can do that generates a lot more interest in the sport, as long as it’s in a positive way, then I’m all for it.”
