18-year old stuns Olympic champion to win 200m at Eugene Diamond League

Reigning 200m Olympic Champion Letsile Tebogo probably thought he was in for an easy evening at the Eugene Diamond League. The field wasn't particularly stacked, with only one athlete being inside 2 tenths of his PB of 19.46.

However, lining up on lane 3 was an 18-year old with big plans. Tate Taylor from the United States had got his PB under 20 seconds this season to 19.94, but even he was surprised when he kept up with the pace and more at the Prefontaine Classic.

Taylor finished strongly to take victory, with the clock stopping at 19.75 - a massive improvement on his personal best. A run like this on home soil with an Olympic Champion's scalp to boot will surely fire the American up to superstar status as he managed to hold Tebogo off at the end. The youngster was as surprised as everyone else afterwards:

- I wasn't expecting to win this race. I knew it was going to be close. I told my dad, I told my coach, 'if they're gonna beat me, they're gonna have to throw something crazy down to beat me,' but I definitely wasn't expecting to win, Taylor told the official Olympics channel after the race. He wasn't the only one breaking records at the Prefontaine Classic though.



All in all it was an epic night of sprinting in Eugene, as both the men's 110m and women's 100m hurldes saw meeting records broken. Jamal Britt (USA) raced a 12.86 to better his PB by 3 hundredths of a second, while Masai Russell (USA) beat out Tobi Amusan (NGR) by a tenth to equal the MR at 12.24.

The season continues on the 10th of July with the Monaco Diamond League.

Source: Official Olympics website