Felix’s performances stand out on world stage

OSAKA, Japan -- So who was the biggest star of the 11th World Track and Field Championships?

Tyson Gay? Allyson Felix? Bernard Lagat?

Depends on whether you prefer sprinters or distance runners.

All three U.S. athletes had achievements of historic proportions in the meet that ended today.

Gay joined compatriot Maurice Greene (1999) as the only men to win golds in the 100, 200 and sprint relay at worlds. Felix (200, two relays) matched East Germany’s Marita Koch (1983) as the only women to win three golds in a world meet. Lagat became the first to win the 1,500 and 5,000 meters.

No one looked more impressive in the act of running than Felix.

She turned the normally gut-wrenching challenge of the 400 meters into 48 seconds of controlled grace after taking the baton for the second leg of the victorious 1,600-meter relay today. Two days earlier, she powered away in the stretch to win the 200 meters by the largest margin in world meet history.

“Allyson Felix is phenomenal,” U.S. relay anchor Sanya Richards said. “She’s fast, strong, everything.”

Gay, 25, Felix, 21, and Lagat, 32, were the major players for a U.S. team that matched its best gold (14) and overall (26) medal totals at worlds. Team USA was far ahead of the competition on both counts.

“This is for the American people,” Lagat, a naturalized citizen from Kenya, said of his double. “I will be happy to do it again for the American people.”

Next chance: the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the U.S. should retain its position as the sport’s power.

Until then, a brief review of the 11th World Track and Field Championships:

Biggest flop: Jamaica’s Asafa Powell. The next piece of bling Powell buys should be a choker. Pressure tied him into knots at the end of the 100, leaving him third -- and still without a major championship title. Powell is mocked by his fast past, which includes three world-record times.

Biggest surprise: Kara Goucher of the United States winning a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters: No U.S. runner of either gender had ever won a world medal in distance races on the track. Now two have -- she and Lagat.

Back to the future: Kenya improved on its glorious distance running past, winning 13 medals, three more than its previous best. Catherine “the Great” Ndereba, considered well past her prime, put an exclamation point on Kenya’s performance today by regaining the marathon title she won in 2003.

Best story lost in the shuffle: In early 2006, when Donald Thomas of the Bahamas was a basketball player at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., a classmate bet Thomas he couldn’t high jump 6 feet 6 inches. Thomas, who had dabbled in jumping as a high schooler, won not only the bet but, 18 months later, the world title.

Best last-minute decision: USA Track & Field paid $3,800 to get unheralded David Payne a ticket from the United States to Japan as soon as federation officials learned U.S.-record holder Dominique Arnold was withdrawing from the high hurdles with an injury. Payne arrived Tuesday, ran preliminary heats Wednesday and won a bronze medal Friday.

David and Goliath: The Bahamas, with 323,000 inhabitants, matched China, with 1.2 billion, in gold (1) and total medals (3).

Smallest crowds: The evening sessions last Wednesday and Thursday drew only 17,000 and 18,000 fans in a stadium with 36,000 seats for the ticket-buying public. Only one of the 17 morning and evening sessions was a near sellout.

Best sense of perspective: Felix is passing up big appearance fees at European meets so she can get home for her final semester at USC. “I’m late already,” she said. She will return to Europe for one meet in September.

Most honest reaction: “It was a colossal breakdown. I wish I could learn a lesson from that, but I learned nothing.” -- U.S. runner Alan Webb after his eighth-place finish in the 1,500 meters.

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Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.