BEIJING -- LaShawn Merritt earned a gold medal in the men's 400 meters Thursday night at the Beijing Olympics as the United States earned a clean sweep of the event.

Merritt completed the race in a personal-best time of 43.75 seconds to finish ahead of countryman Jeremy Wariner, the gold medalist in the 400 at the Athens Games. Wariner crossed the line in 44.74 seconds.

David Neville of the U.S. then took the bronze, diving across the finish line with a split of 44.80 seconds. The daring leap at the end allowed him to beat Christopher Brown of the Bahamas by just 0.04 seconds.

In addition to his Olympic gold medal in Athens, Wariner is the defending world champion at the distance, while Merritt took silver at last year's worlds and won the 400 at the U.S. Track and Field trials last month. The American sprinters have developed a healthy rivalry that has wound up working to the benefit of the U.S. track team.