THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISTANBUL, Turkey — When Aries Merritt shot out of blocks to deny Liu Xiang victory in the 60-meter hurdles, he clinched more than just an unlikely victory.
The American hurdler, who was thought to have little chance against the Chinese great, won the title and cemented a record gold medal haul for the U.S. team at the world indoor championships.
"We psyched up everybody, including myself," said United States team captain Bernard Lagat, who won his own gold in the 3,000. "We came together as a team."
If anything, when gold runs up to 10 in three days of competition, it augurs well for a great show at the London Olympics. No other team had more than two.
Lagat was a prime example. At 37, he produced a devastating kick to shake off two younger Kenyans over the final lap to defend his 3,000 world title.
From Friday’s first morning, Ashton Eaton started building on his heptathlon world record and shot putter Ryan Whiting clinched the first gold later that day. From the start, the Americans were on a roll.
"We always come to these meets saying, ‘USA is the best team in the world,"’ said Christian Taylor, who took silver behind teammate Will Claye in Sunday’s triple jump. "You just keep that mindset and you want to do your part also."
Claye himself proved the depth of the team. While Lagat won yet another gold in the twilight of his career, Claye is only 20 years old.
"It’s going to be tough to make the U.S. team" for the London Games, Claye said.
With 10 gold medals, the performance at the Atakoy Arena was two better than the previous record. And several times, the toughest competition an American faced was another American.
In the women’s long jump, Brittney Reese jumped a championship record 7.23 metres on her last attempt to push American teammate Janay Deloach into the silver-medal position with 6.98 and become the first back-to-back winner in the event.
"My coach told me to go and get it, and I went out and got it," Reese said. "I had to go out and bust the big one."
The long jumper said she was driven by a new motto that might well apply to all Americans at the championships.
"My coach came up with this idea of ‘See it. Feel it. Trust it,’ and that is what I have been trying to come out and do," Reese said.
As team captain, Lagat came up with a stirring speech ahead of the championships, telling his teammates "run as hard as you can, jump as high as you can. Jump, pole vault. Because, you know what, this is the time. There’s no other time."
Lagat won his third title by pushing free with 100 metres to go to beat Kenyan rivals Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi. Favorite Mo Farah was supposed to make it a straightforward duel with the American, but he failed to get into the medals and finished fourth. The Briton beat Lagat in a stirring 5,000 finish at the world outdoor championships in August.
Lagat knew the Kenyans were going to drive the race and he refused to fall back and be surprised by a sudden breakaway. So when the final rush came, he was prepared.
"I am going to stay here because those guys are strong," Lagat said he thought to himself.
Merritt had to stay with no one in his final. Fastest out of the blocks, he even got the better of Liu, the 2004 Olympic champion who was trying out a new start with one step less to the first hurdle to keep the opposition at bay.
When Liu saw the blur of Merritt, it immediately unsettled him.
"I knew Aries Merritt is a fast starter," Liu said. "So I got out in a rush and was not able to control my technique."
For one hundredth of a second, the championships could even have been better for the Americans.
The women’s 4×400 relay produced the most exciting finish of the championships when 400 champion Sanya Richards-Ross came back from fourth place with 200 metres to go and missed gold by just .01 seconds when Perri Shakes-Drayton of Britain threw herself across the line first.
The men’s 4×400 team won the race outright but the gold was delayed for two hours after a British protest over a handover technicality first led to disqualification before a U.S. appeal reinstated the gold.
Even though the United States overwhelmed the championships, other stars also stood out.
Yelena Isinbayeva put a three-year gold medal drought behind her by winning the pole vault with just two jumps.
The Russian set a world record of 5.01 metres last month and failed to improve that to 5.02 after ensuring gold. It was Isinbayeva’s fourth indoor world title overall but her first in four years. Over the same period, she also lost her world outdoor title.
"I was waiting for this victory like a mother is waiting to give birth to her baby," Isinbayeva said. "The last three years showed me how important it is for me to win."