Lyles wins his fourth 200-meter world title. Jefferson-Wooden completes a sprint sweep

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TOKYO (AP) — Noah Lyles pulled ahead of Kenny Bednarek heading into the straightaway then held him off down the stretch to capture his fourth title in a much-awaited 200 meters at world championships Friday night.

Lyles finished in 19.52 seconds for a .06-second margin over Bednarek, who led the final at the halfway point, fell behind by a few steps but was closing the gap over the final footsteps.

Minutes later, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completed the first women's 100-200 double at worlds since Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013, winning in 21.68 seconds — a .46-second margin over surprise silver medalist Amy Hunt of Britain.

Lyles matched Usain Bolt with four 200 titles at the world championships. Instead of exchanging glares and shoves with Bednarek — the way it happened at U.S. nationals last month — Lyles raised up four fingers and said “That's four, baby,” into the camera.

Bryan Levell of Jamaica finished third and Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo was fourth.

Rai Benjamin captured the 400-meter hurdles on the best day of the championships for the United States, which has 10 golds and 16 overall with two days left in the meet.

Lyles won the featured race of the night, one that’s been in the making for the last seven weeks -- or four years -- depending how you look at it.

In 2021, Lyles was suffering after months in a COVID lockdown and came to Tokyo admittedly depressed. Running in a near-empty stadium, he won a bronze medal in the 200 and stored it away, using it as fuel for what was to come.

More recently, there was his victory at nationals, punctuated by a stare-down of Bednarek, then Bednarek’s shoving Lyles as they crossed the finish line. In-between all that, Tebogo won the Paris Olympics in a race Lyles ran with COVID.

All that led the runners to the line on a cool night in Tokyo.

Lyles didn’t start perfectly but never panicked. He caught Bednarek, opened a two-step lead on him with about 50 meters left, then held on and calmly thrust four fingers in the air -- one for each title in a string that began six years ago in Qatar.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games