Letsile Tebogo claimed a historic 200m title for Botswana on Thursday as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone produced a stunning performance to smash the world record in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Tebogo’s superb run left Noah Lyles’ hopes for three gold medals in tatters as he eventually claimed the bronze and then revealed he has Covid. Lyles later posted on Instagram: “I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics.
” McLaughlin-Levrone left Dutch rival Femke Bol in her wake and in bronze medal position as the American improved her own world record to 50.37sec and retained her title from Tokyo. Three of the five finals on a mesmerising night at the Stade de France were claimed by Americans, but the fancied Lyles was not among them.
Grant Holloway won the 110m hurdles gold that had eluded him at the Tokyo Games three years ago, while Tara Davis-Woodhall won the women’s long jump. There was another exceptional performance in the men’s javelin as Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem threw an Olympic record of 92.97m for his country’s first individual gold at a Summer Games.
All the pre-race talk about the men’s 200m was about 100m champion Lyles emulating Usain Bolt’s sprint doubles. But there was to be an upset as the 21-year-old Tebogo raced to victory in an African record of 19.47sec, taking him to fifth on the all-time list.
He also became the first African to win the Olympic 200m metres. American Kenny Bednarek collected silver in 19.62sec and .