Americans win 30 medals at world championships

LONDON — Allyson Felix earned a second gold medal on Sunday and highlighted the overwhelming performance of the United States at the 10-day world championships.

In doing so, Felix made sure she became the most decorated athlete in the history of the event — and that includes Usain Bolt.

Felix won gold in the 4x400-meter relay a day after winning the same color medal in the 4x100 relay. She also earned a bronze medal in the 400meter race to give her 16 in her career. Bolt finished his career with 14.

In a world championship of upsets right up to the last event, Trinidad and Tobago beat the United States in the men’s 4x400, producing only a little dent in an allpowerful performance.

The Americans finished with 30 medals, 10 of them gold. That was only one short of the overall record held by East Germany.

Bolt, however, will leave London without a gold medal. Running at his last major championship last week, the Jamaican got a royal farewell from the 60,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday as they cheered his famed “To The World” pose.

“It was brilliant,” said Bolt, who pulled up in his last race as he was running anchor in the 4x100 relay. “Everything happens for a reason.”

Kenya was the only other team to break into double figures with 11 medals overall.

The African nation got two more gold on the final day with Hellen Obiri winning the 5,000 and Elijah Manangoi leading a 1-2 Kenyan finish in the men’s 1,500.

Bolt gave Jamaica gold medals and chutzpah for a decade, but his farewell produced only a bronze in the 100 meters. Jamaica slumped to four medals this year, compared with 12 only two years ago.

The world championships also got its only world record on Sunday, and it was in the only new event: the women’s 50-kilometer walk.

Ines Henriques of Portugal bettered her mark by finishing in 4 hours, 5 minutes, 56 seconds on the two-kilometer loop in central London. Only seven women started the race and only four finished.