LaShawn Merritt (born June 27, 1986) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres.

He became part of the American 4×400 meter relay team and helped win the event at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

He came out on top of a rivalry with Jeremy Wariner in 2008 by winning in the 2008 Olympic final in a personal best time, and by a record margin of 0.99 secs.

He spent one year as a college athlete at East Carolina University, signing an endorsement contract with Nike during his first season of indoor track, making him ineligible to compete in an NCAA event.

Along with Tyree Washington, Milton Campbell and Wallace Spearmon, he won the World Indoor title in the event.

Prior to the 400  m final at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Merritt stated his intent to beat all-comers.

[7] With Wariner absent from the field, Merritt won the gold medal at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final.

[11] At the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris, the last Golden League competition before the Olympics, Wariner seemed to have the momentum behind him after a win in 43.86  seconds.

[20][21] The American Arbitration Association's ruling accepted Merritt had unintentionally consumed the banned substances contained within a male enhancement product called ExtenZe.

[22][23] After serving his competition ban, Merritt finished second at the Stockholm meeting of the Diamond League[24] series with a time of 44.74.

Two weeks before the track and field events at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Merritt tweaked his hamstring in the Herculis meet in Monaco.