AIPS ASIA News:

PARIS, August 8, 2024 – With a crown on her head and a big smile on her face Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone rang the victory bell located near the finish line at the Stade de France on Thursday night. Just moments earlier she had casually destroyed the women’s 400m hurdles field to set a new world record of 50.37m and defend her Olympic gold, reinforcing her status as one of the most consistent and dominant figures in athletics at the moment.

NERVOUS? It is hard to imagine that the New Jersey native was nervous before the race: “1000%,” the 25-year-old, who with her win became the first American to defend gold in an individual track event since Michael Johnson in 1996 and 2000, said. “Especially before the Olympic final. There is so much talent in this event. There are also 10 barriers you have to get over to cross that finish line. There are always nerves, there was a lot of anticipation before this race and rightfully so. There’s so much depth with Femke (Bol) and Anna (Cockrell). You get nervous but you channel those nerves into excitement. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to run in the Olympics. It’s exciting but you also want to put your best foot forward,” she added.

INJURY It is her second world record of the year after only returning to competition in April 2024 following an injury layoff. Because of a “minor knee issue” she had pulled out of the World Championships in Budapest in August last year, where she was scheduled to defend her hurdles title and had also qualified for the 400m flat. 

Although the season was cut short, it was last year that saw her try something new as she started to race in the 400m, winning the US Nationals with an amazing 48.74 seconds time that made her the 10th fastest female athlete in history.

US OLYMPIC TRIALS This meant that her first 400m hurdles race in nearly two years, since winning the world title in Oregon, in August 2022, happened two months ago on May 31 at the Edwin Moses Legends Meet at Morehouse College. She ran 52.70s in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which she had already received a bye into based on her status as reigning Olympic champion.

There, at Hayward Field, where the Trials took place, she would lower her world record in the final to easily book her ticket to Paris. And tonight, a packed Stade de France bore witness to her greatness as she broke the record for a mind-blowing sixth time. Before this year she had set her previous four world records in a 13-month span between June 27, 2021 and 22 July 22, 2022, the first being 51.90 seconds.

CHALLENGERS Femke Bol, who won the world title in Budapest, was McLaughlin-Levrone’s biggest challenger ahead of the Olympic final in Paris, but the Dutch star couldn’t keep up with the American’s speed coming into the home straight and would barely hang on for the bronze in 52.15. Anna Cockrell completed a 1-2 for the USA after crossing the finish line ahead of Bol in 51.87.

IMPROVING How does McLaughlin-Levrone stay consistent in breaking world records? “Just becoming more familiar with the race itself. There are so many ways you can run it, there are so many different ways to get better. Between stride pattern, touchdown time, flat speed, it’s always just trying to improve those things. There’s no such thing as a perfect race, but the closer and closer we can get to 49 seconds, I feel like it’s inching there.

“I’ll have to go back and watch the race. It’s also just building that capacity in your legs to handle going that fast for that long,” she said.

McLaughlin-Levrone, a two-time Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 (400m hurdles, 4x400m relay), is expected to run in the 4x400m  relay later this week and possibly add a fourth Olympic gold to her impressive resume.