LONDON (Reuters) - Grenada's world champion Kirani James stormed home to take gold in the men's 400 meters at the London Olympics on Monday.

James won with a time of 43.94 seconds, ahead of the Dominican Republic's Luguelin Santos and Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago, who took silver and bronze respectively.

James, 19, looked in control of the race from the start, surging home half a second ahead of world junior champion Santos.

The United States, winners of the last seven Olympic men's 400 meters titles, did not have a representative in the final for the first time.

(Reporting by Neil Maidment, editing by Ed Osmond)