Move over Michael Johnson.
The new American record for the 200m belongs to Noah Lyles.
The 25-year-old was way out in front of the pack heading down the home stretch at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. A gold medal was a given, the only competition was the clock.
Lyles crossed the line in a time of 19.31 seconds, beating Johnson’s mark set at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games by the slimmest of margins. Johnson’s time in Atlanta was 19.32.
He now is the proud holder of the third-fastest time in history, bettered only by Usain Bolt (19.19) and Yohan Blake (19.26).
The podium for the men’s 200m was a sea of red, white and blue as Kenneth Bednarek (19.77) claimed the silver medal and Erriyon Knighton (19.80) won bronze.
The United States also swept the men’s 100m which gave the country a unique distinction. No country has ever swept both the men’s 100m and 200m in an international championship since the U.S. did the same at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis.
It was nearly another clean sweep in the women’s 200m as Jamaica’s Sherika Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished 1-2, with Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith taking home the bronze. Jackson’s winning time was 21.45 seconds, a personal best. It was also the first time she had run the 200m at the World Athletics Championships. She took silver in the 100m earlier in Eugene.