Portal:Caribbean Community/Selected biography/5

Kirani James (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian sprinter who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. He is the reigning 400 metres world champion.

Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400 m times ever by a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. He won a series of gold medals at the CARIFTA Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games and rose on the international stage with 400 m silver medals at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships. James became the first athlete to run a 200/400 double at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was the 2010 World Junior Champion.

He gained an athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama and won back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championship titles in his first two years. James is the third fastest of all-time indoors (44.80 seconds) and ran a personal best of 44.36 at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League in Zürich.