McLaughlin-Levrone ran through the rain to take gold and post the second fastest time in history of 47.78 seconds at the Tokyo National Stadium.
It will surely only be a matter of time before the 400m hurdles world record holder breaks the mark of 47.60 set by East Germany’s Marita Koch in 1985, which has long had question marks hanging over it due to the former country’s state sponsored doping programme.
It was the same stadium where the 26-year-old American won her first 400m hurdles gold, but that was in front of empty stands due to the Covid restrictions at the Tokyo Olympics.
This time she was able to rush over, stand on her toes and kiss her husband, Andre Levrone Junior, among the spectators.
“You know at the end of the day, this wasn’t my title to hold on to, it was mine to gain,” she said.
Botswana came into the men’s 400m final never having won a medal in the event in the championships — they left with two.
The largely unknown Busang Collen Kebinatshipi took gold, in 43.53 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year.
His teammate Bayapo Ndori added bronze.
“This is my first title and it feels crazy,” said Kebinatshipi. “In the final, I had no fear.
“I wanted to go all out and see where I could go.”
Trinidad, like Botswana, also took away two medals.
Seasoned campaigner Jereem Richards won silver in the 400m — if he had had another 10 metres it would have been gold, so fast was he finishing — and 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott rolled back the years to win the javelin world title.
All good things have to come to an end and such was the case for entertaining Venezuelan triple jump icon Yulimar Rojas.
The 29-year-old’s record run of four successive world outdoor golds was ended by Leyanis Perez Hernandez, who won Cuba’s first gold in the women’s triple jump since Yargelis Savigne collected the second of her world titles in 2009.
“I’m proud of myself,” said Rojas, who missed the 2024 Paris Olympics after injuring her Achilles tendon.
“I had two very tough years but this is the life of an athlete. You have to go through hard times and show you can come back. That’s what I did and it means a lot.” (AFP)
