Kirani James with a new Championship 400m record of 45.24 was immediately labelled “the next Usain Bolt” after speeding around the Sud Tyrol track in a time which was faster than Jamaica’s Olympic 100m and 200m champion achieved at his age.

It may  be premature to label the 16-year-old Grenadian who smashed the time of 46.10 Sudanese Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr set when winning title six years ago in Sherbrooke with that accolade yet, given Bolt never really turned his attention to it when a youth.

James the 2007 runner up however is undoubtedly a gifted talent – in the morning session he posted the fastest 200m qualifier of 21.18 – then returned to roar to what looks likely to be the first of the two gold medals he is aiming for.

Powering down the back straight his lanky strides had already drawn him well clear by the halfway point of Joshua Mance, Awadelkarim Elyas and Nathan Wake, who were battling for the other two medals.

Mance got clear, the American clocking a PB 46.22, while Elyas from the Sudan ran 46.22 his fastest of the season to edge Great Britain’s Wake by just 0.05sec in 47.15. 

“I wanted to set a World Youth record and I am disappointed to have missed that,” said James just shy of the USA’s Obea Moore’s fastest ever time of 45.14 set in 1995.  Click here for video
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