The 200s were historically fast
Noah Lyles ran 19.31 and set an American record. He broke Michael Johnson’s mark—which had stood since 1996 (26 years)—by 0.01 seconds. Lyles’s time was the third-fastest in history.

Lyles led the race from its opening steps. On Tuesday night, after the semifinal, he said that he has “one of the worst starts out there.” He had a great start tonight and established a lead by the top of the turn.

The clock at the finish line intially read 19.32, which would have equaled Johnson’s record. “I expected to see that time. But I didn’t want it to say 32. No one wants to share a record,” Lyles said.

He turned his back on the clock, and then he heard a roar from the crowd. The time had been adjusted for accuracy down to 19.31.

Lyles recalled the moment: “I look up at the big screen and it says 31 and I just went ballistic.”

After the medal ceremony, Lyles spent nearly 30 minutes celebrating on the track and hugging people in the stands, among them, Johnson, who came down from where he was doing television commentary to greet Lyles. It was the first time the two had met in person.

Lyles’s margin of victory was 0.46 seconds, massive by sprinting standards. Kenny Bednarek, in second, ran 19.77, and Erriyon Knighton ran 19.80. Knighton, at 18 years and 174 days old, is the youngest world medalist ever in the men’s 200 meters.

He turned his back on the clock, and then he heard a roar from the crowd.

The US sweep of the medals was the fourth of this championship. US men also swept the 100 and the shot put, and Jamaican women swept the 100.

The women’s 200 was also a record breaker. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica ran the second-fastest time in history, 21.45. Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record of 21.34 from 1988 lives another day.

“I know that Shelly is probably one of the best curve runners in the world, so I knew she was going to go hard,” Jackson said of her compatriot, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the silver medalist. “I knew that I want to get gold, I had to run the curve as hard as possible. I know I am strong and fast on coming home so I knew when I eventually catch up with her, I could take it.”

Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, the bronze medalist, said history would look back favourably upon this period of sprinting. “I definitely think we’re in a golden era,” she said. “It’s insane. We haven’t seen these times for decades and decades, but also we haven’t seen the depth. And the fact that these times are coming from an assortment of women I think is so special.”

The American women, however, have not won a medal at this meet in the 100, 200, and 400, which is unusual.

The medal count
The US continues to dominate the medal count with 22: 7 gold, 6 silver, and 9 bronze. Ethiopia is second with 8, and Jamaica is third with 6.”

Scan here for more about your favourite athletes
Ever wondered about Athing Mu’s walk-out song or biggest dreams, or the Instagram follower Aleia Hobbs most treasures? If you can’t catch the pro runners to ask them in person, you can now find out by scanning the QR codes they wore pasted prominently on their right thighs in this week’s races.

“It’s all about me—so if you want to learn about me, the queen Ting Ting, just put your phone right there and my face will pop up somewhere,” Mu said after the preliminary round of the women’s 800 metres. In fact, the links take viewers to a series of YouTube videos called “Going the Distance,” produced by World Athletics, where interviewers ask about everything from training to self-care routines to how long they’d last in a zombie apocalypse. (Spoiler alert: Hobbs likes her odds; she watches a lot of zombie movies.)

Winning pays off
You know gold, silver, and bronze, but do you know there are payouts for those finishing spots? Or even what you get for finishing eighth? That’s right, the athletes who finish in the top eight of their event earn prize money at the World Athletics Championships. Here’s the breakdown:

Individual events

• Gold: R1 190 000
• Silver: R595 000
• Bronze: R374 000
• Fourth: R272 000
• Fifth: R187 000
• Sixth: R119 000
• Seventh: R102 000
• Eighth: R85 000

Relays (per team)

• Gold: R1 360 000
• Silver: R680 000
• Bronze: R340 000
• Fourth: R272 000
• Fifth: R204 000
• Sixth: R136 000
• Seventh: R102 000
• Eighth: R68 000

—Cindy Kuzma contributed to this report.

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