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Eugene, Oregon: Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner hopes to rekindle his season after losing two consecutive 400 metres finals to new US Olympics trials champion LaShawn Merritt.
Wariner had no answer to Merritt in the trials' final on Thursday, finishing in 44.20 seconds to Merritt's 44.00.
The 22-year-old Merritt also beat his countryman in Berlin in June.
They are scheduled to meet again in Rome on July 11 and both have 400 metres races on their schedule for Paris a week later.
Ahead by a tenth of a second at the 200 metres mark in the trials, Merritt moved to a three-tenths of a second advantage by 300 metres, according to Track & Field News magazine statisticians.
Wariner gained only a tenth of a second of the deficit back in the closing 100 metres, the statisticians said.
Wariner said poor execution resulted in the loss.
"I made a move at 150 metres and I forced it instead of using my kick at the end. I didn't execute right," he said.
Twice this year Merritt has beaten Wariner in stretch runs.
"I know I need to train harder," said Wariner, who skipped a victory lap with Merritt and a post-race news conference before returning to speak to reporters.
He insisted last week nothing had changed in his training since controversially moving in January from long-time coach Clyde Hart to Michael Ford, a Hart assistant at Baylor University.
"My workouts are exactly the same," Wariner said.
Yet the closing strength Wariner employed in winning Olympic and world championship gold medals under Hart was missing in the Olympic trials final.
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