RIO DE JANEIRO -- Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa won the men's 400-meter final in world-record time Sunday night, smashing Michael Johnson's 17-year-old record from the outside lane to finish in 43.03 seconds.
Van Niekerk stormed out of the blocks and held off 2012 champion Kirani James (43.76) of Grenada and the United States' LaShawn Merritt (43.85).
Merritt earned his third Olympic medal; he previously won the event at the 2008 Beijing Games in addition to the men's 4x400-meter relay. He did not finish the qualifying race in London after reinjuring his left hamstring.
Johnson ran his world-record time of 43.