McLaughlin-Levrone runs fastest women’s 400m in 40 years to claim world gold
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US runner takes title in 47.78 sec at World Championship
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Botswana’s Busang Collen Kebinatshipi wins men’s 400m
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran the fastest women’s 400 metres in 40 years to claim world championship gold in 47.78sec on Thursday and complete her transition from the one-lap hurdles in emphatic style. The American stormed through the Tokyo rain to add a first global gold in the flat 400m to the two Olympic and one world titles she won over the hurdles.
Not since the Iron Curtain cast a shadow over Europe, and sport was seen as war by other means across the Eastern bloc, has a woman run a 400m as fast as McLaughlin-Levrone did on this wet and wild Tokyo night.