Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has become the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack 48 seconds in the 400 metres, recording the second fastest time in history with a breathtaking run to win the world title in Tokyo.
The American clocked 47.78 in an historically fast one-lap race on Thursday, with the Dominican Republic's silver medalist Marileidy Paulino timed at 47.98 on the rain-slickened track.
The second and third-fastest lap times in women's athletics' annals trailed only the 47.60 by East Germany's Marita Koch in 1985 — one of the last remaining vestiges of an Eastern Bloc doping system that has been exposed and discredited years after it ended.
