When competition had concluded at the Atakoy Athletics Arena for the 14th edition of the World Indoor Championships March 9-11, Team USA had collected the most gold medals in team history at a World Indoor Championship.
Team USA grabbed a total of 10 gold medals, which bettered its mark of eight it reached in 1993, 2003 and 2010 and was as many gold medals won as the next seven nations combined.
Ryan Whiting began the competition with a gold medal in the men’s shot put. His throw of 22.00m/72-2.5 was the first personal best for Whiting in two seasons and marked the fifth consecutive time Team USA had brought home a World Indoor gold medal in the event.
USA SWEEPS TEAM GOLD AT NACAC CROSS COUNTRY
Team USA athletes ran away from the competition at the eighth annual North American, Central America, and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships at Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, Trinidad by sweeping the team gold medals. USA athletes also struck gold in three of four individual competitions under the hot, humid conditions.
The NACAC Championships contested races for the open men's 8km, open women's 6km, junior men's 6km and junior women's 4km.
Claiming individual titles included Shannon Osika in the junior women’s competition, Jace Lowry in the junior men and Liz Costello for the senior women.
Team USA’s sweep of the team titles at this event marks the first time a country has done so since Team USA first accomplished this feat during the meet’s inaugural year in 2005.
6
reCord at World Indoor ChampIonshIps
For the third consecutive year Ashton Eaton set the world record in the heptathlon. In Istanbul he left little to question when he shattered his existing record from 2011 with the new mark of 6,499.
Eaton’s gold medal was one of four of its kind for Team USA on the second day of competition that also included Sanya Richards-Ross (400m), Chaunte Lowe (high jump) and Justin Gatlin (60m). Richards-Ross claimed her first World Indoor title in the 400m in her first indoor season since 2006, Lowe completed a two week stretch that saw her set an American record, win the Visa Indoor Championship Series and win a World Indoor title and Gatlin won the 60m in the same time he ran to win the World Indoor title in 2003.
Team USA picked up another five gold medals on the final day of competition from Bernard Lagat (3,000m), Brittney Reese (long jump), Will Claye (triple jump), Aries Merritt (60m hurdles) and the men’s 4x400 relay team of Gil Roberts, Frankie Wright, Calvin Smith and Manteo Mitchell.
With Reese’s final jump of 7.23m/23-8.75 she defended her World Indoor title in the event and broke Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s