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The Men’s 400m finals took place on Thursday night in Tokyo, Japan, with a new set of runners trying to stake their claim as the best. In the semifinals, the world and Olympic holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa failed to quality for the final with a fifth place finish and time of 45.14.
With the 2016 gold medalist in Niekerk out of the picture, it meant that someone else would be the new champion of the 400m. That moniker went to Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, who won the gold medal with a time of 43.85. The 25-year-old came into Tokyo as the world champion and easily pulled away with 150 meters to go to win the gold.
Steven Gardiner pulls away to claim the GOLD in the men's 400m final.#TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/odWYpCmct9
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 5, 2021
Also joining Gardiner on the podium was Anthony Jose Zambrano of Columbia, who won the silver medal with a time of 44.08. Meanwhile, Kirani James of Grenada won the bronze with a time of 44.19. The USA, however, would finish in fourth and fifth place respectively, as Michael Cherry ran a 44.21 (personal best) and Michael Norman ran a 44.31.