Biography - Kirani James

The Grenada Boys' Secondary School's Alumni Association of New York award presented to World 400m Champion, Kirani James at its Alumni Scholarship Awards and Dinner Dance on Saturday December 10, 2011.

Kirani James is a graduate of the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School – Class of 2009. He was born on September 1, 1992 in the town of Gouyave, St John.

Kirani is a Grenadian sprinter who specialises in the 200 and 400 metres and is the reigning 400 metres world champion.

Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400m 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 400m 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.

At least ten colleges in the United States had expressed strong interest in recruiting James for their track team, including Baylor, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida State, and Arizona State. He accepted a scholarship offer from Alabama and in his first ever appearance on an indoor track he ran a 45.79 in the 400 metres, placing first and breaking the 10-year-old school record.

After the end of the college season, he made his professional debut at the London Grand Prix Diamond League meeting and established himself among the world's best with a personal best run of 44.61 seconds – a time which made him the fastest man that year.

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, both James and fellow Grenadian runner Rondell Bartholomew made the finals of the 400m event.

James won the event in a personal best of 44.60 seconds, becoming the youngest 400m world champion at the age of 18. The medal is the first for Grenada in any event at the outdoor version of the World Championships in Athletics. Nine days later,

James won the 400m at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League in Zürich with a new personal best of 44.36 seconds.

He has already qualified to represent Grenada at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics in Istanbul, Turkey, March 9-11, 2012 and the Games of the XXX Olympiad – London 2012.

Kirani is currently ranked 1st in the world in the Men’s 400 metres and has been credited with the Rising Star of the Year Award in Monaco last month and nominated for Male Athlete of the Year by the United States Sports Academy in association with NBC Sports and USA Today.