Letsile Tebogo claimed a historic Olympic 200 meters title for Botswana on Thursday as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone produced a stunning performance to smash the world record in the women's 400 meters hurdles as she took gold. Tebogo's superb run left Noah Lyles' hopes for three gold medals in tatters as he was forced to settle for bronze and then revealed he has Covid. 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.
37 seconds 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 110 meters 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 92.97 meters for his country's first individual gold at a Summer Games. All the pre-race talk about the men's 200 meters was about 100 meters 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 19.47 seconds, taking him to fifth on the all-time list. He also became the first African to win the Olympic 200 meters.
American Kenny Bednarek collected silver in 19.62 seconds and Lyles faded but took bronze in 19.70 seconds.
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