Sydney McLaughlin-Levron lowers 400 hurdles world record again for the fifth time in more than three years

Eugene, Ore. – Sydney McLaughlin-Levron Hayward Field knelt down a few steps from the finish line, her eyes glued to the video board and her right hand covering her mouth in shock.

The time she saw next to her name confirmed that she had lowered her world record in the 400m hurdles for the fifth time since June 2021.

“I was just like, ‘There’s no way,'” McLaughlin-Levron said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that time.”

McLaughlin-Levron continued her assault against preconceived notions of what can be accomplished in her signature race, besting America’s eight fastest 400-meter hurdles runners at the U.S. Olympic trials on Sunday. She crossed the finish line in 50.65 seconds, three hundredths of a second faster than her previous world record and almost two seconds faster than anyone else in the world who had completed the 400 hurdles this year. .

To put McLaughlin-Leveron’s amazing time into proper perspective, consider that it’s not just 400-meter hurdlers who can’t keep up with her. McLaughlin-Levron ran faster Sunday than four of the nine women who competed in the open 400 final at the trials last weekend. this is the race Without 10 obstacles.

“She just broke the world record, and it’s like we’re not even shocked anymore,” said Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion and the last person to beat McLaughlin-Levron in the 400 hurdles. “He’s an amazing talent, a generational talent.”

The world-record time establishes McLaughlin-Levron as the strong favorite to repeat as Olympic champion in Paris later this summer. McLaughlin-Levron is the most influential athlete in her sport, what Tiger Woods was for golf, what Serena Williams was for tennis, what Michael Phelps was for swimming.

USC senior Jasmine Jones, who finished third in the 400 hurdles final on Sunday, called McLaughlin-Levron “an inspiration” and said she prepared for this season by reading the world record holder’s autobiography. For Jones, lining up on the blocks with McLaughlin-Leveron “humanized” the athlete she grew up idolizing.

It was a similar experience for Texas freshman Akala Garrett, who placed seventh in Sunday’s 400 hurdles final. Garrett said she was “starstruck” while warming up next to McLaughlin-Levron and had to fight the urge to ask for a picture.

“That attention and belief in myself is what I want for myself,” Garrett said.

McLaughlin-Levron was marked for world domination even before he was old enough to legally drive a car. By the age of 16, the New Jersey native had already claimed his first Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award, rewritten the high school record book and made his first U.S. Olympic team.

One of the few current 400-meter hurdlers who knows what it feels like to beat McLaughlin-Levron is fellow U.S. Trials finalist Shamier Little. When Little was a rising sophomore at Texas A&M and McLaughlin-Levron was a precocious 14-year-old, the difference at the Junior Nationals was as little as two tenths of a second.

In a game full of teenage phenoms who failed to live up to their hype, McLaughlin has proven to be the exception. When McLaughlin-Levron turned professional after her freshman year at Kentucky, Muhammad began breaking old barriers of less than 53 seconds. McLaughlin-Leveron took that and built on it, dragging with him a generation of young hurdlers who are now starting to run 52 and 53 with him.

His competitors say it’s not just one characteristic that makes McLaughlin-Levron great. It’s a combination of his speed, his speed endurance and his hurling technique. Earlier this season, McLaughlin-Levron ran the 200 in a world-leading 22.07 seconds and the Open 400 in a world-leading 48.75 seconds. Had she opted to do a double at the trials, she probably would have qualified for the Olympics in any of these events.

“I like to focus on just one,” McLaughlin-Levron told Sunday. “I love improving at one thing and doing it to the best of my ability.”

How fast could McLaughlin-Levron go in Paris?

“I still think she might be 49 years old,” Muhammad said.

McLaughlin-Levron acknowledged this is a long-term goal. In a development that should terrify other 400-meter hurdlers, McLaughlin-Levron thinks she can run even faster if she improves her technique.

“I think there’s something really exciting about figuring out how to correct history,” McLaughlin-Levron said Sunday.