Noah Lyles retained his world 200m title in emphatic fashion, beating Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton in another American clean sweep and breaking Michael Johnson’s 26-year-old national record at the World Athletic Championships in Oregon, USA.
The race had been billed as a duel between Lyles and 18-year-old sensation Knighton but Lyles was in a class of his own, running an exceptional bend before powering home in 19.31 seconds.
His time is one hundredth of a second better than US legend Johnson ran at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
It makes Lyles the third-fastest man in history behind Usain Bolt, whose world record stands at 19.19 and Bolt’s fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake.
The style of Lyles’ victory was as compelling as the statistics however. The 25-year-old revved up the Eugene crowd before taking to his blocks, left Bednarek and Knighton in his wake and then paraded round the track, race suit torn in celebration and gold medal held aloft, to take the acclaim.
Olympic silver medallist Bednarek finished in 19.77, with Knighton third in 19.80.
It completes a US shut-out of the men’s sprints, after the 100m, won by Fred Kerley earlier in the week, also produced an American 1-2-3.
The race was a hotly anticipated finale to the seventh day of action. Lyles and Knighton, once apparently close, had crossed paths and words on the same track last month. (BBC Sport)