Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo upset Noah Lyles’ plan for an Olympic sprint double by zooming to victory in the 200m men’s final in Paris, France, on Thursday.
Tebogo clocked an African record of 19.45sec for gold, with American Kenny Bednarek taking silver in 19.62sec and Lyles taking bronze in 19.70sec,well shy of his personal best and even further away from Usain Bolt’s world record that he had aspirations of breaking.
After the race ended, Lyles sat on the track and appeared to receive medical attention.
Lyles had hoped to become the first American man to complete the Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis 40 years ago.
He seemed to be well on his way after he won the closest 100 meters in Olympic history on Sunday night, dipping at the finish line to edge Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five thousandths of a second.
Persecondnews reports that Lyles’ inability to add 200 gold to his medal haul is a massive surprise.
The race is Lyles’ speciality, his first love, and the event that comes most naturally to him.
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