By Leilah Bbaale
Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the men’s Olympic 200m title while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone extended her 400m hurdles dominance at Paris 2024 on Thursday.
Botswana’s Tebogo held off challenges from Americans Kenneth Bednarek and Noah Lyles, as he stormed to victory in 19.46 seconds.
In addition to becoming the first African champion in the event, Tebogo’s triumph marked his country’s first gold medal at the Games.
“It was really a beautiful race for me,” he said. “When I made it to the final, my coach just told me, now my job is done, it’s up to you to see what you can do. Whether it’s a medal or not, just finish the race healthy. That’s all I could have wished for.”
Tebogo’s time was an African record and the fourth fastest in history. Bednarek took silver in 19.62 and Lyles bronze in 19.70.
McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record as she captured gold in 50.37 seconds, eclipsing her previous mark of 50.65 set in June.
Fellow American Anna Cockrell took silver in 51.87, while Femke Bol of the Netherlands claimed bronze in 52.15.
“It’s amazing to see our sport continue to grow, for people to want to watch the 400m hurdles,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Just a lot of hard work put in this year. I knew it was going to be a tough race. An amazing competition all the way round.”
Arshad Nadeem secured Pakistan’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics, setting a new Olympic record to win the men’s javelin final.
Nadeem registered a best throw of 92.97 meters, beating the previous Games record of 90.57 set by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen at Beijing 2008.
India’s Neeraj Chopra took silver with 89.45 and Grenada’s Anderson Peters bronze with 88.54.
American Tara Davis-Woodhall continued her rapid ascent by winning gold in the women’s long jump.
The 25-year-old secured the title with 7.10 meters, 0.12 meters ahead of Germany’s defending Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, who took silver. American Jasmine Moore took bronze, 0.02 meters further back.
Davis-Woodhall, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics, was a silver medalist at the 2023 world championships before taking gold at this year’s world indoor championships.
In the night’s only other gold medal at Stade de France, American Grant Holloway lived up to his pre-race favoritism by powering to victory in the men’s 110m hurdles final.
The 26-year-old reigning world champion and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist blitzed his rivals to win in 12.99 seconds.
His compatriot Daniel Roberts claimed silver in 13.09 and Rasheed Broadbell of Jamaica clinched bronze, just three thousandths of a second further back.
