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A day after one of the greatest races in history came another as Sydney McLaughlin beat her own world record to win gold in the 400m hurdles.

In the same discipline that brought Karsten Warholm to new heights via an immense battle with Rai Benjamin on Tuesday, McClaughlin's duel with Dalilah Muhammad was even tighter.

The 21-year-old American, who broke the record initially in June, slashed 0.44 off her mark in an astonishing run of 51.46sec.

Team USA's Sydney McLaughlin beat her own world record to win gold in the 400m hurdles

McLaughlin pipped her US team-mate Dalilah Muhammad (L) on the line, winning by 0.12sec

She had trailed Muhammad with 30m to go, but they were level off the final hurdle before McLaughlin pipped her US team-mate on the line, winning by just 0.12sec. 

Such was the quality of the race, and in an echo of the men's showdown, Muhammad's 51.58sec also broke the world record in taking silver.

Femke Bol of the Netherlands won bronze.

McLaughlin said: 'It's not one of the hot events that people usually want to watch a whole lot, but we definitely made it something very interesting. 

Femke Bol (R) of the Netherlands won bronze in the women's 400m hurdles in Tokyo too

'Every time you step on the track there seems to be some sort of record broken so it's really cool to be a part of that and push the boundaries of what's possible.'

Muhammad said: 'I think a lot of people expected a world record, myself included, especially after watching the men's race. And all the races after that have run on this track so far which have been really fast.

'Just the anticipation was crazy, I almost couldn't watch the men because just thinking about what might happen in our race was becoming overwhelming. 

'I knew it would be a fast race, I was looking forward to it, and anticipating something crazy, something fast.'

The 21-year-old American, who broke the record initially in June, slashed 0.44 off her mark in an astonishing run of 51.46sec

Blistering times have been a growing feature of the athletics events at the Games, with the track designer revealing on Tuesday that the Mondo surface is yielding an improvement between one and two per cent.

McLaughlin said: 'You can feel the difference. A lot of people talk about the shoes, but I think it's one of those tracks that it gives you that energy right back and pushes you and propels you forward.'

Muhammad added: 'I can feel that energy return, especially when you go into (hurdle) eight and feel that death. I didn't feel like I was going into death.'

It came just a day after Karsten Warholm (L) set new heights via an immense battle with Rai Benjamin (R)