McLaughlin-Levrone runs fastest women’s 400m in 40 years to claim world gold
US runner takes title in 47.78 sec at World Championship
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.