Kirani is the man to beat in Rio

The defending Olympic champion broke the Drake Relays record with a world-leading time of 44.08 seconds on Friday. James, who represents Grenada, beat American LaShawn Merritt by 0.14 seconds and shaved over a quarter of a second off the time he posted at a race in the Bahamas two weeks ago.

The performance only solidified James’ status as the early favourite in the 400 for the Rio Olympics this August. His time nearly matched the 43.94 he ran to win in London -- and James still has three months to prepare for Brazil. 

“It just shows I’m in great shape. But it also shows how competitive the field is, that a time like that was what it was going to take to win the majority of the races going forward this year,” James said.

The time James posted was even more remarkable given the conditions, with temperatures hovering just below 50 degrees. 

The conditions got to Merritt, the 2008 Beijing Olympics champion. He finished 2015 ranked second in the world and is hoping to be ready to push James by the Rio Games. 

“I wanted to win the race. But I didn’t want to kill myself,” said Merritt, who matched the old meet record. “My toes felt frozen. So when I tried to like really push at certain parts, I felt like I was just tip-toeing. But I finished up healthy.” 

Bershawn “Batman” Jackson was something of a surprise winner of the 400 hurdles in 49.30. 

It was a promising early run for Jackson, who is hoping to overcome personal tragedy and gain a measure of redemption after barely missing out on a spot on the US team in the London Olympics four years ago. Jackson lost his father to a heart attack in October.