Sports News Roundup: American Norman misses 400m final due to injury; Lyles beats asthma and the blues to conquer the world

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

American Norman misses 400m final due to injury

American Michael Norman, a gold medal favorite at the world athletics championships, missed out on the 400 meters final after holding back in the semi-final to avoid exacerbating a lingering injury. The 21-year-old, who finished last in his heat in a time of 45.94 seconds, said he had decided to slow down to avoid hurting himself.

Fajdek golden again at world championships

Poland's Pawel Fajdek was again in a class of his own as he claimed a fourth consecutive hammer world championship on Wednesday by unleashing the only effort over 80 meters. On his fourth attempt, Fajdek put down his golden marker with a throw of 80.50m that no one could come close to matching.

Warner takes lead after Day One of decathlon, Mayer lurks

Canada's Damian Warner snatched the lead after the opening day of decathlon competition at the world athletics championships on Wednesday but will have restless night with world record holder and defending champion Kevin Mayer lurking just 30 points back. Sandwiched between the two gold medal favorites is another Canadian, Pierce LePage, but it is the Frenchman, who has a history of turning in big scores on the second day, that Warner will be wary of.

Asher-Smith seizes golden opportunity

Dina Asher-Smith seized her golden opportunity to win the world championship 200 meters on Wednesday and become the first British woman to claim a global sprint title. With many of the top medal contenders pulling out or skipping the event, Asher-Smith proved the class act in the field, powering home in a national record 21.88 seconds to add gold to the silver she won in the 100m.

Holloway glides to gold as McLeod tumbles

Grant Holloway of the United States blazed to his first 110 meters hurdles world title on Wednesday in a dramatic race in which defending champion Omar McLeod fell. The 21-year-old Holloway, who came into the championships with the season's fastest run of 12.98 seconds, smoothly glided through 10 hurdles to cross the line in 13.10, five hundredths of a second ahead of Sergey Shubenkov.

Gymnastics: Biles eyes yet another record performance at worlds

American Simone Biles will look to extend her legacy as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time as she bids to tumble her way to an unprecedented fifth women's all around title at the world championships in Stuttgart. The owner of 20 world medals, including 14 golds, the 22-year-old could end the championships as the most decorated athlete in the competition's history by topping Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo's record haul of 23 medals.

IOC plans boxing qualifiers with the help of suspended AIBA

The International Olympic Committee has been cooperating with boxing's suspended international federation AIBA as the Olympic body plans the sport's qualifiers and tournament at next year's Tokyo 2020 Games. The IOC in June officially took over the boxing qualification and competition for the Tokyo Games, suspending the international boxing federation AIBA over issues surrounding its finances and governance.

IndyCar's aeroscreen gets thumbs up from Power and Dixon

Former Indianapolis 500 winners Scott Dixon and Will Power tested IndyCar's new cockpit protection device on Wednesday and both drivers gave the aeroscreen a thumbs up and said it was already fit for racing. The aeroscreen, which is designed to protect drivers from flying debris, covers the open-air cockpit and is anchored by a titanium framework surrounding the driver.

Britain's Johnson-Thompson leads heptathlon after four events

Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson produced two personal bests as she made a superb start to the heptathlon at the world athletics championships on Wednesday, opening a 96-point lead over defending champion Nafissatou Thiam after four events. The 26-year-old Johnson-Thompson took an early lead after running a lifetime best of 13.09 seconds in the 100m hurdles, before matching Thiam with a clearance of 1.95m in the high jump.

Lyles beats asthma and the blues to conquer the world

Noah Lyles had to overcome severe asthma as a child and periods of depression on his way to becoming world 200 meters champion at the age of 22. The day after his triumph, when he stormed across the line unthreatened in a time of 19.83 seconds, American Lyles said that asthma had been part of his life ever since he could remember.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)