A day after celebrating her 25th birthday, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone can celebrate her third Olympic gold medal and yet another world record.
In a new world record of 50.37 seconds, the American superstar sprinted past a stacked field to defend her Olympic title in the women’s 400m hurdles, an event she’s owned all decade long. Thursday’s world record marks the sixth time she has broken her own mark.
As a U.S. cherry on top, fellow American Anna Cockrell claimed silver with a time of 51.87 seconds, the fourth-fastest time ever in the event and a lifetime best. It marks redemption for Cockrell, who was disqualified from the Tokyo Olympic final but now has struck silver in Paris.
Femke Bol of The Netherlands is the bronze medalist with a time of 52.15, marking her second bronze in the event.
McLaughlin-Levrone has been the world record holder for three years running, and now she’s held the Olympic title for just as long. To say all this at just 25 years old — well, 25 and one day — is staggering.
From her early days running, the Jersey-born star showed her family what might be in store. Her NCAA All-American father, Willie McLaughlin, once called his daughter’s success “just a matter of time.” That time began in full force when she first stepped on an Olympic track at just 17 years old in Rio. Age has always been a part of McLaughlin-Levrone’s story — and she’s always leapt far ahead of her years.
In 2014, she was already running 55.63 seconds in the 400m hurdles, more than quick enough to represent the U.S. at the IAAF World Junior Championships. But she was a year too young to qualify. So, a year later, McLaughlin-Levrone showed and set a course record en route to easy victory.
Just year later, she was an Olympian. A decade later, she’s a two-time Olympic champion. And she owns seven of the ten fastest times ever recorded in the women’s 400m hurdles.
For McLaughlin-Levrone, running this event is mathematical. There are 10 hurdles. She takes exactly 14 steps between hurdles from the first to the seventh, then 15 steps between the last three. She coasts from hurdle to hurdle with speed that makes fans pine for her to enter in the flat races, too.
But McLaughlin-Levrone knows what works for her — and on Thursday night, it all worked scientifically and beautifully again, as she continued to copy/paste her name all over the record books.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.