Andre de Grasse upstaged Noah Lyles to claim the first men’s 200m gold of the post-Usain Bolt era on Wednesday, as Sydney McLaughlin obliterated her own world record to claim a thrilling victory in the women’s 400m hurdles.
The stage for the 200m final at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium had been set up by McLaughlin’s epic duel with American teammate Dalilah Muhammad.
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McLaughlin, 21, surged past Muhammad just metres from the line in a baking hot morning session to win in 51.46sec, slicing a whopping 0.44sec off her previous mark of 51.90sec set at the US trials in June.
“Every time we step on the track it’s always something fast,” McLaughlin said.
