RIO DE JANEIRO -- Despite racing down the stretch of the 400-meter final with a substantial lead Sunday night, South Africas Wayde van Niekerk still thought someone was going to catch him. He was wrong about that, very wrong. Niekerk had such a large lead, not only did no one come close to catching him, not even world-record holder Michael Johnson could have done so while running in his prime.Er, make that former world record holder Michael Johnson. Van Niekerk broke Johnsons 17-year-old record by .15 seconds, winning Sundays race with a time of 43.03. The gold-medal time was nearly half a second faster than van Niekerks previous best, which he set when he won the 2015 world championships last summer in Beijing.And he did so despite running in Lane 8, becoming the first Olympian to win gold in that lane in the 400.I felt very alone at the end. I was thinking, Whats going on? Whats going on? said van Niekerk, 24. It kind of gave me motivation to keep on pushing and keep on pushing to the finish line. I dove for the finish line. And right after that, I went down on my knees and thanked God and my family and everyone for tonight.Van Niekerks time was .73 seconds faster than silver medalist Kirami James of Grenada. American LaShawn Merritt, who won gold at the 2008 Olympics, took bronze with a time of 43.85.I didnt handle the last part of the race as well as I would like but I got a medal, Merritt said. Ill take it and get a day rest and get ready for the 200.Merritt said that he knew the race would be fast but he didnt realize it was going to be world-record fast. But the man can run fast, and at many distances. In addition to a sub-44 second 400, he has run a sub-20 second 200 and sub-10 second 100.As amazing as Van Niekerks run was Sunday, heres something just as incredible. His coach? A 74-year-old great grandmother Ans Botha.She has played a huge role in who I am today and kept me very disciplined and very focused on the role and who I need to be, he told reporters. Im very grateful my coach has pushed me to the limit.Van Niekerk also trained for a while in Jamaica, where he met Usain Bolt, who won his seventh gold medal just minutes after the South African won his first.Im really proud of him, Bolt said. When he came to Jamaica, I said to him, Youre the only person who can break the 400 meter world record. Because hes very fast and he keeps on going. I wasnt really surprised he broke it tonight because hes really good and he looked in good shape.Van Niekerk said that Bolt inspired him, along with Michael Johnson. These are amazing guys. I learned from them, he said. Even the guys I ran against today -- James, LaShawn Merritt -- these are guys that inspired me.Asked what his race strategy was, van Niekerk said he didnt know and laughed. Then he said that he was just determined to run the best he possibly could. He said he was able to do so partly because he had God -- and the people of South Africa -- on his side.I believed in myself as an athlete and my abilities, but tonight God showed how important hes been in my life, he said. And Im really grateful for the blessing hes continued to give me in my life. I can say tonight that God is great.Van Niekerk was pretty great as well. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Cheap Jerseys .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. http://www.nflauthenticjerseys.com/ . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. Cheap Tom Brady Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap New England Patriots Jerseys . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Seattle relievers made the pitches they needed to and helped the Mariners get another big win.Ketel Marte drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly, Leonys Martin scored from second base on a bunt, and the Mariners held on for a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.Robinson Cano had three hits, Kyle Seager and Chris Iannetta each had two hits and scored a run as the Mariners won for the 10th time in 12 games to move two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.Drew Storen (3-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win. Mariners closer Edwin Diaz, who touched 101 mph on the gun, gave up a run and loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but used his off-speed pitches effectively to strike out Jefry Marte and get Andrelton Simmons to ground out for his eighth save in eight chances.Obviously our bullpen weathered the storm tonight, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. We made pitches and got outs, so it was a nice win.On the final out, third baseman Seager made a diving stop on Simmons grounder and threw him out a second before he tagged the bag.A heck of a battle with Simmons, Servais said. The last pitch of the day slipped on him. It probably would have been ball four but Simmons is aggressive and you cant say enough about the defensive game of Kyle Seager. Him making that big play at the end was awesome.Yunel Escobar went 5 for 5 for Los Angeles, his fifth career five-hit game. Since 2000, only Ichiro and Johnny Damon have more with seven each.Mike Trout was up twice with runners on but struck out both times. With two on in the seventh, Arquimendes Caminero struck him out with three straight 100 mile-per-hour fastballs to end the inning.I missed a bunch of pitches and I keep telling the young guys, `If you get a pitch to hit, you cant miss it. I missed it a couple times, Trout said. Youve got to be up there looking for a fastball. You cant be sitting slider when he throws 100, youve got to catch up to it.Tyler Skaggs (1-2) gave up four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.Tyler had trouble repeating pitches tonight, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. Eighty-two pitches over three innings -- thats just not going to cut it.dddddddddddd Hopefully hell learn from this and get back to where he needs to be.With the score tied at 2-all, Iannetta led off the fourth with a single to center and moved to third on Martins single. After Martin stole second, Ketel Martes sacrifice fly drove in Iannetta with the go-ahead run. Shawn OMalley then laid down a bunt and reached base safely. Jefry Marte thired tried to throw Martin out at third but he was already breaking for home plate and scored easily on the relay.Mike Morin then came on in relief of Skaggs, who lost his second straight decision.Im throwing way too many pitches, Skaggs said. I think I tried to be too fine. I ended up walking one guy and hitting a guy and things kind of spiraled out of control from there. It was a frustrating outing for me.Cody Martin, called up one day earlier to fill a vacancy in the rotation, limited the Angels to two runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.The Angels first two runs came in the first inning with Escobar scoring on Albert Pujols single and Kole Calhoun on a sacrifice fly by Marte. Pujols now has 93 RBI, tying him for second in the American League with David Ortiz.TRAINERS ROOMMariners: LHP James Paxton played catch and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday. If he throws without any tightness in his forearm, hell then make a rehab start with Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday or Sunday. Paxton was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a left elbow contusion.Angels: C Geovany Soto was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with right knee inflammation. Soto was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday and had fluid drained from his surgically-repaired knee. C Carlos Perez was called up to take his place on the roster.UP NEXTMariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma will close out the series looking for his ninth win in 10 starts. Iwakuma is 8-3 with a with a 2.86 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) against Los Angeles.Angels: RHP Matt Shoemaker is looking for his first win against Seattle this season. Hes 3-4 with a 3.91 ERA against the Mariners but 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in 2016. ' ' '