TOKYO: Sonia McLaughlin-Levrone brought the house down on Thursday by coming within a whisker of breaking the four-decade-old women’s 400 metres world record while Botswana’s Busang Collen Kebinatshipi impressively won the men’s one-lap title.
McLaughlin-Levrone ran through the rain to post the second fastest time in history of 47.78sec at the Tokyo National Stadium.
It only be a matter of time before the 400m hurdles world recordholder breaks the mark of 47.60 set by East Germany’s Marita Koch in 1985, which has long had question marks hanging over it. McLaughlin-Levrone’s decision to switch from the hurdles to the flat this season paid off handsomely.
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.
“Bobby (Kersee her coach) uses boxing terms all the time. He said you got to go out there and take the belt It’s not yours and you got to go earn it.”
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 43.53sec, 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.”
‘MEANS A LOT’
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.
There will be some party tonight as they are roommates.
“When we spoke about this before the competition it looked like a joke,” said Richards of their double haul. “Now it’s a reality.”
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
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