Wayde Van Niekerk Smashes Michael Johnson's 17-Year-Old 400m Record

South African Wayde van Niekerk chopped 15 hundredths of a second off Michael Johnson’s 400m record, set in 1999, en route to a dominating gold medal performance in Rio.

Van Niekerk did it from Lane 8; no runner has ever won a championship in the 400m from that lane, according to NBC. Here’s how Michael Johnson reacted to his record being broken live on BBC: