Y. runner wins world title

Chris Carter, a BYU hurdler from Roy, earned the United States' first gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Championships on Friday, winning the 400-meter hurdles in Beijing.

Running out of lane four, Carter won the event in a time of 50.08, outdistancing Shraheli Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who finished in 50.34. Melnykov Stanislav ofUkraine finished third in 50.43.

Carter got out to a quick lead, took the lead after the second hurdle and never looked back. Entering the backstretch, Carter opened up a comfortable lead and cruised the final 250 meters to win.

"I feel great," Carter said. "I am very satisfied with my results and I want to thank my family, my teammates and my coach, who has supported me so much. I started training for this event about this time last year. I love it here. This is an amazing place, amazing people, an amazing country."

BYU head track coach Mark Robison said he is excited about Carter's performance and his runner's future.

"We have never had a hurdler win a gold medal in the World Junior Championships," Robison said. "He's an amazing athlete and we couldn't be more happy for him."

As a true freshman in 2006, Carter won the Mountain West Conference outdoor 400-meter hurdle championship and later earned All-America honors in the event with a third-place finish at the NCAA National Outdoor Championships in Sacramento. Carter turned in his personal-best time of 49.19 in that competition.

Also at the championships, Estonian sprinter Marek Niit won the men's 200-meter title after a Ukrainian athlete was disqualified for running outside his lane.

Niit finished in 20.96 seconds for the gold behind Dmytro Ostrovsky's 20.89.

Judges unanimously ruled after reviewing a video that Ostrovsky stepped outside his lane.

In the women's 200, Bulgaria's Tezdzhan Naimova claimed her second gold in the championship with a personal-best 22.99. She won the 100 on Tuesday.

In the men's 800, Kenyan runner David Lekuta Rudisha won in 1:47.40, and Moldova's Olympian Olga Cristea won the women's event in 2:04.52. Kenyan Winny Chebet was second and American Rebekah Noble was third.

Russian Yekaterina Shtepa won the women's 100 hurdles in 13.33, followed by Christina Vukicevic of Norway and American Tiffany Ofili.