Erriyon Knighton showed the world why some think he is the next Usain Bolt

It takes a lot to get the entire Olympic world talking. And a 17-year-old did just that at the track. This was a true ‘wow’ moment.

Patty Mills in action during the preliminary round basketball game between Australia and Germany at Saitama Super Arena during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Pics Adam Head

While the crowd may be missing there was still a collective 'wow' resonate through the Tokyo Olympic stadium after Erriyon Knighton gave the world a glimpse of his abilities in the men's 200m semi-final.

The 17-year-old has been earmarked as Usain Bolt's successor in the 200m after he toppled the Jamaican's Under-18 world record of 20.13, which he set back in 2003.

Knighton is certainly embracing the hype and there was a fair bit of Bolt about how he cruised over the finish line, clocking 20.02sec in the opening semi-final.

The 200m promises to be one of the races of the Olympics given how competitive the semi-finals were with favourite Noah Lyles having a minor scare.

He has long been anointed as Bolt's replacement and won the world title in 2019 but he was almost caught out by slowing down on the line.

Lyles seemed to be doing it comfortably in the lead but Canada's Aaron Brown and Liberia's Joseph Fahnbulleh both surged at him on the line.

After a long deliberation Brown was awarded the victory despite all three being given the same time of 19.99sec.

Erriyon Knighton was the talk of the track. Picture: Getty Images

Lyles slipped down to third but got through to Wednesday night's final as one of the two fastest losers.

In the third semi-final South Africa's Andre De Grasse made a statement setting a new national record of 19.73sec to defeat American Kenneth Bednarek (19.83sec).

While Knighton has been talked up recently De Grasse has always been in the Bolt discussion given he was competitive with the world record holder at the end of his career.

Originally published as Erriyon Knighton showed the world why some think he is the next Usain Bolt

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