Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone sets new world record in 400m hurdles, clocking 50.65 at U.S. Trials
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has set another world record - even before she's arrived at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The reigning Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles, McLaughlin-Levrone soared to a 50.65 on Sunday (30 June) the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - track & field at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, flying to the title - and booking her spot in Paris while doing so.
McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record of 50.68, which was set on this very same track at the World Championships two years ago. That easily puts the American star ahead of Dutch rival Femke Bol's 52.49 at the European Championships earlier in June.
McLaughlin-Levrone led from the first hurdle and then never looked back as Hayward Field roared around her, a fitting final and thrilling event for the 10-day championships.
"I'm definitely a little surprised it happened, but I'm still grateful," McLaughlin-Levrone told a group of reporters after. "I knew I was in 50.5 range, [but] it was just a matter of getting that stride pattern...
"I wasn't expecting that time," she added. "It's super encouraging, knowing that more is there."
Anna Cockrell (52.64) and Jasmine Jones (52.77) finished second and third, respectively. They'll join McLaughlin-Levrone in Paris.*
Rio 2016 champion Dalilah Muhammad finished sixth in what she said would be her final U.S. Trials.
Added McLaughlin-Levrone: "I'm always chipping away and seeing what's possible. I have so many different ways to run [this race], and I feel like every time I'm on the track, I'm like, 'OK what's the best way to attack?'"
You can see a full list of results here. The record is subject to World Athletics' usual ratification procedures.
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*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Dalilah Muhammad on Sydney McLaughlin: 'She can go 49' seconds
It was the 34-year-old Muhammad that won gold in Rio when McLaughlin-Levrone was just 16 years old - making her Olympic debut. Would she have guessed that Sydney would go on to such greatness?
Yes, actually, she said.
"She's been amazing the whole way through," Muhammad told a small group of reporters. "I still think she can go 49 [seconds]. I've said that before. She just ran a world record... and it's like we're not even shocked at this point. She's just an amazing talent; a generational talent, for sure."
McLaughlin-Levrone's 50.65 is the first world record of the 2024 U.S. Trials - in the very last race of it.
"It's ridiculous. I mean, the 400 hurdles... this event has gotten so crazy over the years. I'm so happy to see that," added Muhammad.
It was Dalilah who broke a 16-year-old world record in the event in 2019 with a 52.20, dropping it a second time later that year.
"Honestly, we went from being an event that wasn't even thought about to being the premier event, to close out the Olympic trials. So that's just amazing in itself," Muhammad added. "It's crazy. I think 52 seconds was left off the team this year... so that's just insane."
Indeed, Shamier Little's 52.98 finished in fourth place.
McLaughlin-Levrone set the world record a first time at this event in 2021 at 51.90, and Sunday marked the fourth time she's lowered that mark since.
Rai Benjamin: 'She came out here and ripped the world record'
The race prior to McLaughlin-Levrone, reigning Olympic silver medallist Rai Benjamin set a world lead time in the men's 400m hurdles, clocking a 46.46 to secure his spot headed to Paris.
He was asked after his race if McLaughlin is 'the Simone Biles' of athletics.
"Sydney McLaughlin is Sydney McLaughlin. Sydney McLaughlin isn't Simone Biles," Benjamin retorted. "She's Sydney McLaughlin. And I think she carries her own weight and carries it well.
"I think people don't understand the enormous sacrifice and the enormous pressure that those women are under to perform well every single time she gets on the track... people are expecting her to break her world record, which is insane," he added.
Benjamin addressed McLaughlin-Levrone being criticised for not racing more, but reminded fans that every athlete has feelings... and that Sydney is no different. Regardless of her schedule.
"Look what happened: She didn't really race much this season, and she came out here and ripped the world record," he said. "Let her and [coach] Bobby Kersee do what they do... Let's see what they can do."