ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Olympic 400 metres champions Kirani James will lead a three-member Grenada team to the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China later this month.

The World Championships takes place from August 22-30 at the famous “Bird’s Nest” stadium, which was also the venue for track and field at the 2008 Olympic Games.

James, who won the event in Daegu, South Korea in 2011, is among the leading favourites for the highly anticipated 400m title.

He will be joined by another quarter-miler Bralon Taplin and Commonwealth and Pan American Game’s medallist Kurt Felix, who will compete in the Decathlon.

James, who also holds the Commonwealth Games record, has clocked the second-fastest 400m time this year of 43.95, bettered only by Isaac Makwala of Botswana who clocked 43.72.

The Grenadian has lost only once since May 2014 when he was beaten by South African Wayde van Niekerk at the IAAF Diamond League in Paris on July 4.

Taplin, who has been plagued by a sore back, clocked a sub-45 this year when he finished second to James in 44.89 at the Sun Angel Classic in Arizona in April.

Felix, the national record holder in the multi-events, won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, and added a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto last month with a personal best of 8269 points.