The teenager produced a devastating kick to triumph over two laps in New York City.

Cooper Lutkenhaus signed off his 2026 season in style with a dominant 800m victory at the USATF Outdoor Championships.

The 17-year-old powered to a winning mark of 1:43.48 – the fourth quickest time of his young career so far – and triumphed by over a second to the rest of the field.

Lutkenhaus, who went through 400m in 52.16 behind Andrew Casey, was slightly boxed in as they approached the final 300m, but as soon as he found space on the outside the teenager kicked hard and didn't look back.

He established a sizeable gap to the rest of the field, running his last 200m in a scintillating 25.32 and negatively splitting the race with a final 400m of 51.23.

Lutkenhaus' winning margin of 1.07 seconds was the largest in the men's 800m at the championships for 12 years, with Wes Ferguson second in 1:44.55 and Hobbs Kessler third with 1:45.00.

The teenager, who still trains with his Northwest High School classmates in the morning before school, will now focus on his education for the rest of this year.

After bursting on the scene last year – Lutkenhaus qualified for the Tokyo World Athletics Championships with a world under-20 800m record of 1:42.27 – many wondered if the middle distance runner would continue to progress this season.

He answered that question rather emphatically back in March, becoming the youngest ever world indoor champion with 1:44.24 to strike gold in Toruń, Poland.

Lutkenhaus, who won seven out of his eight 800m races this year, also lowered his world junior record to 1:42.08 in beating Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi at the Oslo Diamond League. That mark put him third on the US 800m all-time list behind only Bryce Hoppel and Josh Hoey.

Elsewhere on the final day of action at the USATF Outdoor Championships, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden recorded the second fastest 200m of her career with a triumphant 21.69 (1.0) in the Big Apple.

The reigning world 200m champion looked supreme and was just 0.01 of a second off the mark that saw her secure the gold medal in Tokyo last September.

Jefferson-Wooden is now the fourth athlete to run sub-21.70 or quicker in the 200m this season after Julien Alfred (21.51), Adaejah Hodge (21.68) and Gabby Thomas (21.70).

Noah Lyles was the strong favourite in the men's 200m but pulled up during the race as he entered the home straight. The four-time world 200m champion, who had already won the US 100m title with an equal personal best of 9.79 two days before his 200m final, stated that he wasn't injured and that it was cramp. Garrett Kaalund secured the victory over half a lap with a mark of 20.04 (1.5).