Tebogo Beats Lyles To Win Men’s 200m, As McLaughlin-Levrone Breaks 400m Hurdle World Record

Letsile Tebogo has won a stunning gold in the men’s 200m final, winning Botswana’s first ever Olympic gold after running the fifth-fastest 200m of all time.

Tebogo’s time of 19.46 put him ahead of Team USA’s Kenny Bednarek (19.62) and Noah Lyles (19.70) who took silver and bronze.

The 200m is a ferocious race. One bend, one straight. Less than 20 seconds from gun to gold. Fractions of a second between Olympic Champion and the Other Guys.

Lyles was the favourite to win, and after his 100m gold a few days ago he was aiming to become the 10th man to achieve the sprint double of winning Olympic 100m and 200m. He started very quickly on the bend, and was at the front as he came into the straight, but he faded with 50m to go as Tebogo sprinted ahead to claim his first gold at a major championship.

There were no smiles for Lyles as left the track sitting in a wheelchair, and it was announced soon after that he had Covid, having tested positive two days ago. While that can’t be ignored, Tebogo’s run was so good that a fully fit Lyles would still have been chasing him.

Kenny Bednarek has now won successive 200m Olympic silvers after also finishing second in Tokyo. 

All the talk before the race was of Lyles as the great showman, but it was Tebogo who stole the show and was the deserving winner. Lyles still gets his second medal of the Games, and had been due to run in the final of the men’s 4x100m relays, which takes place tomorrow. Will he be able to add a third medal?

SYDNEY MCLAUGHLIN-LEVRONE RUNS 50.37 TO BREAK HER OWN 400m HURDLE WORLD RECORD!

USA’s McLaughlin-Levrone ran an astonishing 50.37 to set a new world record and win the women’s 400m hurdles in Paris, with her USA teammate Anna Cockrell in second and the Netherlands’ Femke Bol in third. 

The match-up of McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol was one of the most anticipated races of the Olympics. Both arrived in Paris in the best form of their lives, with McLaughlin-Levrone having lowered her own world record to 50.65 in June, before Bol set a new European record of 50.95 in July. They are the only two female 400m hurdlers to have run under 51 seconds. We expected one of the great races of the Games.

And we got that, but it was a virtuoso run from McLaughlin-Levrone that lit up the stadium as she moved ahead with 150m to go and kept on striding forward to a commanding new world record, leaving a lacklustre Bol far behind. In the end this wasn’t McLaughlin-Levrone versus Bol. This was McLaughlin-Levrone versus the clock, and after the finish she even seemed slightly disappointed: she wanted to see a time starting with 49.

Of all their individual successes, this was only the third time that Bol and McLaughlin-Levrone have actually raced each other over the 400m hurdles, and on every occasion McLaughlin-Levrone has broken the world record. McLaughlin-Levrone is unbeaten over this distance since 2019.

This was a dominant performance by a generational talent who adds a second individual Olympic gold after winning the 400m hurdles in Tokyo. She also has a 4x400m relay gold from Tokyo. 

Bol and McLaughlin-Levrone will likely both run in the 4x400m relay, with the final being the last event on the track at the 2024 Olympic Games on Saturday night. Bol has already won 4x400m mixed relay gold, running a sensational 47.93 as a final leg. Will Bol be back at her best or is McLaughlin-Levrone taking home another gold? 

USA’S GRANT HOLLOWAY IS THE 110m OLYMPIC CHAMPION

USA’s Grant Holloway stood on the start line of the men’s 110m hurdles as the favourite. He’s the fastest man in the world this year, he was the fastest in the semi finals, he’s run the second fastest 110m hurdles in history, he’s the three time world champion, and an Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo. Now he finally has an Olympic gold. 

Holloway ran 12.99 to win, with a photo finish separating USA’s Daniel Roberts in second with Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbent in third. 

Team USA has now won 27 athletics medals in Paris, including nine gold medals. No other country has won more than six. And there are still two days of action on the track, and two marathons to come.

ELSEWHERE TODAY

In the women’s 1500m semi finals, GB’s Laura Muir and Georgia Bell both made Saturday’s final. 

Team GB’s men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams both got through the first round and will run in tomorrow’s final.

In the Heptathlon, Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson is in first place after day one.

Coming up tomorrow we’ve got a very busy day on the track. Here’s what’s coming up (times in BST):

9.40am: Women’s 4x400m relay – round 1
10.05am: Men’s 4x400m relay – round 1
10.30am: Men’s 800m – semi-finals
11.05am: Women’s 100m hurdles – semi-finals
6.30pm: Women’s 4x100m relay – final
6.45pm: Men’s 4x100m relay – final
7.00pm: Women’s 400m – final
7.55pm: Women’s 10,000m – final
8.45pm: Men’s 400m hurdles – final

Here’s the full running schedule of the events still coming later in the week at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

And Sarah, Andy and Rick are over in Paris recording a daily podcast with lots of behind the scenes insight into what’s going on. You can listen to The Running Channel podcast here! 

Photo 200m final: Getty Images / Jewel Samad