PORTLAND, Ore. – Former LSU Tiger Vernon Norwood became a World Champion for the second time in his young career when he anchored the United States to a wire-to-wire win the men’s 4×400-meter relay in Sunday’s finale at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships held this weekend at the Oregon Convention Center.
With Team USA leading from the start thanks to the likes of Kyle Clemons, Calvin Smith and Christopher Giesting, Norwood brought the baton home in 44.98 seconds on the anchor leg to finish more than two seconds ahead of Bahamas in second place with a world-leading time of 3 minutes, 2.45 seconds. The Bahamians won the World Indoor silver medal in 3:04.75.
Norwood bounced back from an unfortunate disqualification in the qualifying heats of the 400-meter dash on Friday to win his second World Championship as a member of Team USA’s 4×400 relay.
“It means a lot for us to represent our country and bring home the gold medal. It was a lot of fun out there,” Norwood said following the race. “The mindset won’t change. Just try to improve each week in practice, see where the body’s at, where the mind is. This sport is mainly mental. You can feel good, but if your mind’s not in it then you’re not in it.
“We’ll try to progress in practice and into the meets, and it won’t matter until it comes down to the meet when it really counts. My main thing is working hard and doing it when it counts. That’s what it’s about.”
Norwood is certainly one of the rising stars in the 400-meter dash for the United States following his senior season at LSU in 2015 when he ran for his country in the preliminary rounds of the 4×400 relay during the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Beijing last summer. That’s where he was crowned a World Champion for the first time after Team USA went on to win the gold medal in the final.
The 2015 NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Champion added the title of U.S. Indoor Champion to his resume just one week ago when he won the 400 meters at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships at the same track in Portland to earn his place on Team USA competing at the World Indoor Championships this weekend.
Norwood was one of two former Tigers to medal in the men’s 4×400-meter relay final as Ade Alleyne-Forte ran the third leg for Trinidad & Tobago in a bronze-medal-winning performance in the event. He teamed with compatriots Jarrin Solomon, Lalonde Gordon and Deon Lendore to run 3:05.51 to take the bronze medal back home to Trinidad & Tobago behind the United States (3:02.45) and Bahamas (3:04.75).
“It’s always good to compete in national colors,” Alleyne-Forte said. “It is a blessing. We have another opportunity to compete against these great guys, and I look forward to Rio.”
LSU’s athletes have now won a total of 13 medals all-time at the IAAF World Indoor Championships as Norwood became the program’s ninth World Indoor Champion and Alleyne-Forte won the first bronze medal for a Tiger or Lady Tiger with their performance on Sunday.
Also anchoring Jamaica to a fourth-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay was 2016 NCAA Indoor Champion Fitzroy Dunkley, who carried the stick across the finish line in 3:06.02 to finish just outside the medal positions a split-second behind Trinidad & Tobago. Dunkley, a World Indoor semifinalist in the 400 meters this weekend, wrapped up his indoor season with a whirlwind two weeks that also saw him anchor the Tigers to the NCAA Indoor Championship in the 4×400-meter relay and earn All-America honors with a fifth-place finish nationally in the 400 meters.