Botswana's Letsile Tebogo claimed a surprise Olympic 200m gold medal as Noah Lyles was denied a sprint double at Paris 2024.

Tebogo (pic), 21, stormed clear of his rivals to clock an African record of 19.46 seconds and finish ahead of American Kenneth Bednarek, who crossed the line in 19.62. Lyles, crowned the world's fastest man by five-thousandths of a second in a historically quick 100m final on Sunday night, was unable to compete at the head of the race and matched his Tokyo bronze in 19.70.

That was a dazzling return for Tebogo at his first senior global championship, but it was nothing compared to his achievement at the Stade de France as he marked his first Olympics with a gold. Bednarek held out to equal his silver of three years ago in Tokyo - a medal he also won at the 2022 World Championships - but could not overhaul Tebogo, who sprinted clear to win Botswana's first ever Olympic gold medal.

Tebogo dedicated Olympic gold to his mother Seratiwa, who died in May of this year after a brief illness, and held up his spikes, displaying her date of birth, to the camera following his victory. "It's basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field," Tebogo said.

"To take her with me, it gives me a lot of motivation. She's watching up there, and she's really, really happy." Lyles had targeted a remarkable four golds in Paris, including both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, but it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to contest those finals.

His fellow-American, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, smashed her own world record as she stormed to a sensational Olympic 400m hurdles gold in the Paris showdown with Dutch star Femke Bol - which never seriously materialised as McLaughlin-Levrone left her rivals far behind to defend the title in 50.37 seconds.

"It's amazing to see our sport continue to grow, for people to want to watch the 400m hurdles, it's amazing," said 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone, who celebrated her 25th birthday on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Pac de France, Arshad Nadeem made history by winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold in athletics - beating his Indian rival Neeraj Chopra with an Olympic record throw of 92.97m in the men's javelin. USA's Grant Holloway beat compatriot Daniel Roberts to take the men's 110m hurdles title and upgrade his silver from Tokyo, while another American - Tara Davis-Woodhall - won the women's long jump.

In other headlines, in the stadium, Great Britain's Ellie Aldridge said that she couldn't believe that she won gold in the Women's Kite Sailing final, with the 27-year-old becoming the inaugural Olympic kite champion by winning two races in the final series.

Aldridge said: "The whole thing just feels like a dream.” Three victories were needed in the final series for an athlete to finish first, but she carried one over from the opening series.

Meanwhile, other headlines saw the Netherlands' Sharon van Rouwendaal dedicate her gold medal in the women's 10km marathon swim to her pet dog who died earlier this year. Van Rouwendaal said that her "world stopped" when her dog Rio, named after the Olympic gold that she won in Brazil in 2016, died in May.

Cindy Ngamba claims what was described as “a brilliant bronze” for the Refugee Olympic Team - their first Games medal - after her defeat to Atheyna Bylon in the women's middleweight semi-finals, whilst Poland's Aleksandra Miroslaw became the first woman to win speed climbing gold in Paris.