Bernard Lagat, Jeremy Wariner and Tyson Gay helped the Americas team to a first-day lead at the Continental Cup.
The Americas lead by nine points from Europe after winning eight of 20 competitions on the opening day of the two-day meet, which also features teams from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
Lagat, the 2007 world champion, won the 5,000m in 13 minutes, 58.23 seconds. Wariner, a three-time Olympic champion, took the 400m in 44.22 seconds. The 4x100 relay team led by Gay finished first, as did Dwight Phillips in the long jump and Christian Catwell in the shot put.
PHOTO: EPA
Gay, the fastest man this season over 100m, was unable to run the individual race because he missed the US Nationals this season and Continental Cup regulations require that an athlete must have competed in their nation’s individual championships.
However, he combined with Daniel Bailey, Wallace Spearmon and Churandy Martina to win the sprint relay in 38.25 seconds.
In Gay’s absence, Christophe Lamaitre of France won for Europe in the 100m in 10.06 seconds, followed by Bailey for the US in 10.10 seconds.
Britain’s David Greene added another victory for Europe at the 400m hurdles, finishing in 47.88 seconds.
Two other Americas victories in men’s competitions came from triple world champion and 2004 Olympic medalist Phillips, who scored another victory in the long jump with 8.34m, while Christian Catwell, current world champion, won again in the shot put, throwing 21.87m. Tomasz Majewski, the 2008 Olympic champion, was second with 21.22m.
In women’s races, Olympic silver medalist Janeth Jepkosgei Businei of Kenya won the 800m for Africa in 1 minute, 57.88 seconds.
She was followed by Kenia Sinclair, running for the Americas, 0.28 seconds behind. Jepkosgei is having a winning streak lately, having beaten both European leader Mariya Savinova and Caster Semenya a week ago in Brussels.
The African team is third with 148 points and the Asia-Pacific team was last with 134 points.
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