Sprinter Michael Johnson leads way with unprecedented win at World Track Championships

Jet, August 28, 1995

Michael Johnson, who turns 28 in September, easily won gold medals in the 200- and 400-meter races during the recent Fifth World Track and Field Championships at Ullevi Stadium in Goteborg, Sweden, to lead an impressive field of American winners.

His unprecedented double win makes him the first-ever to accomplish the feat at the World Championships. In all, the Dallas native won three gold medals.

Johnson barely missed the world record in the 400 (43.29) by running the second fastest time ever at 43.39. And in the 200, he came close to setting another record mark when he matched his personal best time of 19.79.

Johnson added a third gold medal after he anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team of Marlon Ramsey, Derek Mills and Butch Reynolds with a time of 2:57.32.

In other notable World games performances, sprinter Gwen Torrence experienced the triumph of victory with a 100-meter dash win clocked at 10.85 seconds and the agony of disappointment in the 200. She was disqualified in the 200 after she had won the race. Judges said the reigning queen of the 200 had stepped out of her lane. So Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey was awarded the gold.

But Torrence beat her sprint rival Ottey during the 400-meter relay helping that team to a 42.12 time.

Dan O'Brien reclaimed his title in the decathlon--his third world title--with 8,695 points.

Kim Batten set a new world record in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a speedy time of 52.61.

And Derrick Adkins claimed a win in the men's 400 hurdles with a clocking of 47.98.