Athletes Wariner, Richards notch fastest 400m times of year

American Jeremy Wariner, double world champion and Olympic 400m gold medallist, clocked the fastest 400m of 2008 Saturday at a university athletics meeting here.

Wariner clocked 44.56sec to set the pace so far in the young Olympic season.

American Sanya Richards, the women's 400m Olympic champion, posted the fastest women's time of the year when she clocked 50.47sec in her first race of the season at the distance.

On February 21, Wariner ran his first 400m of the season in Melbourne, Australia, clocking 44.82sec.

His time on Saturday eclipsed the mark of 44.72 posted by Lashawn Merritt on March 28.

Richards improved on the 51.22 posted by Mary Wineberg on April 5 in Cincinnati.

Wariner and Richards, expected to be among the United States' gold medal contenders at the Beijing Games in August, were competing in the annual meeting at Baylor University, organized in honor of Michael Johnson, holder of the 200m (19.32) and 400m (43.18) world records.