USA Track and Field Championships 2023: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone runs 49.67 in the women's 400m semi-finals
The double Olympic champion easily qualified to the final, set for Saturday (8 July)
Athletics
Double Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran a 49.67 in the first of two women's 400m semi-finals Friday (7 July) of the 2023 U.S. Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
That time - the best of the opening semi - qualified her to Saturday's (8 July) women's 400m finals. Arkansas' Britton Wilson had the second best time, 50.59, running in the second semi-final.
In the opening heats Thursday (6 July), the 23-year-old put up a 49.79 time to easily top the combined standings across all four heats.
Although McLaughlin-Levrone has a wild card entry to next month’s global showpiece as the defending champion in the women's 400m hurdles, she is yet to race in her pet event in 2023.
McLaughlin-Levrone has instead focused on the flat 400m, further fueling speculation that she has her sights set on a tilt at the longest-standing world record in any men's or women's sprint event: Marita Koch’s 400m mark of 47.60 seconds, which has stood since 1985.
How to watch the USA Track and Field Championships 2023
The whole event will be streamed live on pay services USATF.TV and Peacock TV with the latter available in a number of European countries.
The main action at the USATF Championships will be screened live on CNBC for viewers in the U.S., with two-hour nightly broadcasts from Friday 7 July.