Who created history by running the fastest women’s 400 metres in 40 years —…

Concept — An athlete can win a world-championship title only in the sport and discipline in which they actually compete. So a "who won this race" question is settled by two filters applied in order:

1. Filter the four names by discipline, keeping only the track and field athletes.

2. Match the surviving name against the three anchors the stem supplies — the event, the meeting and its venue, and the mark and the date.

Application — The 2025 World Athletics Championships were staged at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo from 13 to 21 September. The women’s 400 metres final was run on 18 September 2025 and was won by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States in 47.78 seconds. That mark broke Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 42-year-old championship record of 47.99 seconds, led the world for 2025, and stands as the second-fastest women’s 400 metres of all time — behind only Marita Koch’s world record of 47.60 seconds from 1985, and therefore the quickest in 40 years. The win also made McLaughlin-Levrone, already the world-record holder in the 400 metres hurdles, the first athlete to hold world titles in both the flat 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles.

Cross-check — The other three names belong to entirely different sports, so none of them could contest a track final at a World Athletics Championships:

• Nadia Comaneci — Romanian artistic gymnast; the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games (Montreal, 1976).

• Serena Williams — American tennis player; 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any woman in the Open Era.

• Martina Navratilova — Czech-born American tennis player; 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record 9 Wimbledon singles crowns.

Answer — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.