American Allyson Felix foiled Veronica Campbell's gold rush on Friday, streaking past the Jamaican to win the 200M title by the largest margin in World Championships history.
Jeremy Wariner kept the stars and stripes fluttering in Japan with an expected victory in the 400M and Liu Xiang finally gave China something to cheer about when he stormed to the 110m hurdles title.
Campbell had been bidding to emulate Tyson Gay's men's sprint double, having won the 100 metres on Monday, but was no match for Felix who retained her title in the year's best time of 21.81 seconds.
She beat Campbell by 0.53 seconds — the biggest margin in 11 championships — and her time was the quickest by a woman over the distance since compatriot Inger Miller won the 1999 championships in a time 0.04 seconds faster.
"It ranks at the top," Felix told reporters. "Breaking 22 ... it is so special ... it hasn't happened in a real long time.  I've been looking to do it (sub-22) for a real long time. To do it and win the title at the same time is real special." Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe won the bronze, more than a decade after her silver in Athens.
Felix stormed past Olympic 200M champion Campbell after the curve and left her to collect silver. Campbell can still grab her second gold of the championships in the women's 4x100M relay on Saturday.
"I am thankful," Campbell said. "Medal is a medal ... I tried, but it was more difficult than the shorter final.
"Gold and silver, I am satisfied with my accomplishments here. We still have the relay."
American sweep
Wariner retained his world title in style, the Texan powering off the final bend to clock 43.45 seconds. LaShawn Merritt took silver in 43.96 with Angelo Taylor completing an all-American podium with a time of 44.32. The US became the first nation to sweep the men's 400M.  Wariner has not lost a championship race since 2004. "I knew I would run a fast time," Wariner said. "Sweep means a lot to me and US athletics. I'm fulfilling step by step all my goals.
"Next year it is to defend my Olympic title. The world record (Michael Johnson's 43.18), it will come when it should come."
US euphoria was tempered, though, by the news that defending decathlon champion Bryan Clay was forced to pull out after four events. Clay, second behind Jamaica's Maurice Smith after three events, pulled his right quadricep muscle in the high jump.
Smith was leading the decathlon after five events with 4,525 points, ahead of Kazakh Dmitriy Karpov (4,439) and Czech Roman Sebrle (4,434).
Liu triumphs
China's Liu snatched gold in the high hurdles to complete his collection of major titles.
The Olympic champion and world record holder's winning time of 12.95 seconds was well outside his best of 12.88 but was enough to see off America's Terrence Trammell and David Payne.
"It's really great, I am very satisfied with the victory and also the time because in a big international event you don't always have fast performances," Liu said.
Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva was denied a World Championships double when the long jump champion was beaten into silver in the triple jump by Cuba's Yargelis Savigne. Savigne's leap of 15.28m was the year's best.
Results:
Men: 400M: Jeremy Wariner (US, 43.45s) 1; LaShawn Merritt (US, 43.96) 2; Angelo Taylor (US, 44.32) 3. 110M hurdlers: Liu Xiang (Chi, 12.95s) 1; Terrence Trammell (US, 12.99) 2; David Payne (US, 13.02) 3.
Women: 200M: Allyson Felix (US, 21.81s) 1; Veronica Campbell (Jam, 22.34) 2; Susanthika Jayasinghe (SL, 22.63) 3. Triple jump: Yargelis Savigne (Cub, 15.28M) 1; Tatyana Lebedeva (Rus, 15.07) 2; Hrysopiyi Devetzi (Gre, 15.04). Javelin throw: Barbora Spotakova (Cze, 67.07M) 1; Christina Obergfoell (Ger, 66.46) 2; Steffi Nerius (Ger, 64.42) 3. 20km walk: Olga Kaniskina (Rus, 1:30:09 2s) 1; Tatyana Shemyakina (Rus, 1:30:42 3) 2; Maria Vasco (Spa, 1:30:47 4) 3.