Grenada’s Kirani James signalled that he is gradually getting back to his competitive best, as he clocked a season’s best 44.38s in winning the men’s 400 metres at the Wanda Diamond League in Xiamen, China on Saturday.

James, who was disqualified for a lane violation at the recent World Athletics Championships, ran his usual well-paced race from lane four to stop the clock in the winning time, which betters his previous season’s best of 44.50s.

He just edged American Quincy Hall, who was also given the same time, while Jamaican Rusheen McDonald (44.82s), was third. Another Jamaican Zandrion Barnes (45.29s) finished eighth.

Antonio Watson produced a spirited run to claim his maiden World title in the men’s 400m final at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Thursday.

The 21-year-old, who produced a massive personal best 44.14 in the semi-finals on Tuesday, ran a measured first 300m before producing a magnificent final 100m to blaze past Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith who was second in 44.31. American Quincy Hall ran a personal best 44.37 to take bronze.

2011 World Champion Kirani James ran 44.52 for fifth while Sean Bailey ran 44.96 for sixth.

Watson’s gold medal is the second in the World Championships by a Jamaican with the first coming 40 years ago when Bert Cameron took gold in Helsinki.