Erriyon Knighton lowered his newly minted U20 200m world record at the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday night but it was 21-year-old Sydney McLaughlin, who stole the show when she shattered the 400m hurdles world record and beaome the first woman to run the event in under 52 seconds.

Knighton, 17, who on Saturday broke Usain Bolt’s 17-year-old U20 200m world record of 19.93 when he ran 19.88 in the semifinals, clocked 19.84 in Sunday night’s final but that was only good enough for third as Noah Lyles stormed to a world-leading 19.74 to win the US title and exact a measure of revenge on the teenager, who had beaten him twice before this season.

Kenny Bednarek ran a personal best 19.78 for second place as all three men booked their places at the Olympic Games this summer.

As impressive as those performances were, they were overshadowed by Sydney McLaughlin, who took apart Dalilah Mohammad’s world record of 52.16, set in the final of the one-lap hurdles at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

McLaughlin, who was second in that final after running a then personal best of 52.23, changed coaches in the offseason, leaving behind Joana Hayes for the legendary Bob Kersee. The move had paid rich dividends.

After cruising to an easy 53.03 in Saturday’s semifinals, she put the pedal to the metal in the finals and stormed to a historic 51.90, establishing a new world mark and leaving Mohammad (52.42) and NCAA champion Anna Cockrell (53.70) in her wake.

The record could go again in Tokyo as last night’s race was Mohammad’s fourth of the season as her preparations were hampered by injuries and a bout with the COVID-19 virus.

Another youngster, JuVaughn Harrison also created history on Sunday night. The son of Jamaican-born athlete Georgia Harrison, will be the first US man since Jim Thorpe in 1912 to compete at the Olympics in both long jump and high jump.

The 21-year-old Harrison, who has not lost a high-jump competition since March 2019, cleared 2.33m to win on Sunday. He then produced a personal best leap of 8.47m to win the long jump.

He announced afterwards that he intends to win both events in Tokyo, saying “I’m going there with the goal of winning both events. I don’t like to lose.”

That, however, might take some doing as he will have to overcome the likes of Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, who has jumped 8.60 and World Champion, Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle, who will be keen on adding an Olympic title to his collection.

In March, Harrison became the first man in history capable of jumping at least 8.40 m in the long jump and 2.30 m in the high jump while winning both indoor titles at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.