Americans Dominate World Indoors With Rio Games on Horizon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Americans set the bar high for the world indoor championships: Bring home a record bounty of medals.

They accomplished that with the help of an 18-year-old high jumper whose father was a longtime NFL quarterback and an 800-meter runner who worked at McDonald's to earn extra money for training.

The final tally: 13 golds out of a possible 26 events and 23 medals in all, making it the biggest haul in the history of the event. Granted, some of track's biggest names were missing (Usain Bolt and Mo Farah, although Farah showed up in the stands) and the Russians were absent because of pending doping charges. But it couldn't have gone much better, especially with the Rio Games just around the corner.

"For Team USA as a whole, it's definitely a confidence booster," said Natasha Hastings, who helped the 4x400 relay team to a gold medal on the final day. "To do this on home turf, that makes it even more special."

Michelle Carter set a U.S. indoor shot put record with a throw of 66 feet, 3 3/4 inches (20.21 meters). She captured gold by beating New Zealand's Valerie Adams, who's the gold standard in the event. Adams was the defending champion.