Gay storms to sprint treble in U.S. gold rush

By Ossian Shine

OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) - Tyson Gay tore up the track to complete a rare sprint treble at the world championships on Saturday and help the United States to the 4x100m relay crown.

Champion in the 100m and 200m, Gay became only the second man to achieve the feat at a single world championships when he teamed up with Darvis Patton, Wallace Spearmon Jr. and Leroy Dixon to match compatriot Maurice Greene's 1999 feat.

The American men ran 37.78 seconds to beat Jamaica into silver just as their women had done minutes earlier when Allyson Felix collected her second gold of the championships.

Brad Walker chipped in on a fantastic night for the States, becoming the first American to win the men's pole vault at a world championships but the night belonged to Gay.

"It really put the icing on the cake," Gay smiled. "I was extremely tired but my team mates asked me to come out and do it one more time.

NO PROBLEM

"After the semi-final the coaches came to me and asked me to run the third leg to give us the lead and I knew we would have no problem.

"It feels great... I didn't come to the championships thinking about three gold medals. At the same time I think that's why I got them. I just came to have fun."