Sydney McLaughlin Just Won the 400-m Hurdles. Remember Her Name. You'll Be Hearing a Lot of It (2024)

Before American Sydney McLaughlin broke the world record in the 400-m hurdles Wednesday morning in Tokyo, she tried to simplify her approach. She stayed off social media, where as a high school student McLaughlin was the target of online harassment. She remained in her room—which isn’t difficult here in Tokyo, where strict COVID-19 protocols are still in place. She only spoke to family and friends.

Pressure, says McLaughlin, “is a weight that you put on yourself that doesn’t really exist. It’s the fear of something that hasn’t happened yet.” Pressure is just an “illusion.”

It sure looked that way on Wednesday. With a burden on McLaughlin to carry her sport into the future, she delivered a thrilling finish to remember. She tracked down teammate Dalilah Muhammad, the defending Olympic and world champion in the final 40-m sprint to break her own record and win Olympic gold. She finished with a time of 51.46 seconds. At 21, she’s the youngest gold medal winner in history of the 400-m hurdles. Muhammad’s second-place time, 51.58 seconds, is now second-fastest time in history. Femke Bol of the Netherlands took the bronze medal; her time, 52.03 seconds, now stands as the new European record.

According to Olympic officials, McLaughlin won the 1,000th medal ever awarded Olympic track and field, dating back to 1896.

For a second straight day, the 400-m was the talk of Olympic Stadium, where track and field events are being held. For a second straight day, a world record fell. On Tuesday Norway’s Karsten Warholm smashed his own world record by 0.76 seconds, finishing in 45.94 seconds. For a second straight day, an American faced the cruel fate of running the second-fastest time in history but finishing with a silver medal (Rai Benjamin’s 46.17-second time trailed Warholm’s).

After Wednesday’s race, Muhammad refused to wallow in self-pity. “As a society, we need to celebrate all the accomplishments that are made,” she says. “Be happy with the accomplishments that you made within yourself.”

Sydney McLaughlin Just Won the 400-m Hurdles. Remember Her Name. You'll Be Hearing a Lot of It (1)

McLaughlin and Muhammad refuse to call themselves rivals. Their duels, however, are now must-see events—especially after their Olympic showdown, which aired in prime-time Tuesday night on U.S. East Coast, more than lived up to the hype. They’ve compelled each other to break new barriers. “It’s really just sharpening irons,” says McLlaughlin. “You need somebody who’s going to push you to be your best. That’s what we do so well. Every time we step on the track, it’s always something fast.”

Muhammad led from the outset, and even came out of the 10th and final hurdle with a slight lead. But she wasn’t happy with her final jump, and it likely cost her. “I just was coming at it fast,” she says. “I either could have went left leg or could have went right leg, and I chose to go right leg and had to shorten my stride to do so.”

So now McLaughlin had an opening. When she crossed the finish line, she knew she had won gold. While Warholm screamed after setting his historic mark, McLaughlin sat on the track, almost stoic. “It’s just a flood of emotions that you don’t know how to process,” she says. “I was just really grateful to be able to finish the race, to be here on this stage, to have the opportunity. Too many emotions that you have no emotions.”

Some friends had less muted reactions. “F—ing awesome,” Mike McCabe, McLaughlin’s coach at Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains, N.J., tells TIME after the race. “The way she chased down Muhammad at the end … she really had to dig deep.”

“Oh my, the execution of that race,” Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the six-time Olympic medalist, says via telephone from Germany, where she was watching at 4:30 a.m local time. About a year ago, McLaughlin started working with Joyer-Kersee’s husband, Bobby Kersee, an accomplished track and field coach. “Muhammad was gone, but Sydney showed how not to panic and execute the plan,” says Joyner-Kersee. “When everyone is in front of you, it’s easy to panic. Sydney had to smooth on that last hurdle. If she wasn’t, Dalilah would have had it.”

McLaughlin even had a vocal trackside fan in the stands, a rare occurrence at these spectator-free Games. Sean Dorcellus, a production runner at NBC Sports who’s been friends with McLaughlin since their freshman year at Union Catholic, sat near the finish line. ”Let’s so Syd!” he shouted. He held up a sign that read “Syd’s Time Is Now.”

“This was always her destiny,” Dorcellus tells TIME after McLaughlin’s victory. “She did everything the right way from the very beginning.” Dorcelles caught himself before growing emotional. “Oh man, it’s crazy. She’s probably my biggest inspiration,” he adds.

McLaughlin, who turns 22 on Saturday, already has sponsorship deals with New Balance, Tag Heuer, Gatorade and Beats by Dre. With her performance in Tokyo, she’s primed to become one of the new crossover stars of the Olympics—a name familiar to the American public outside the somewhat cloistered world of track and field.

Track experts have been expecting this moment since Rio, when McLaughlin became the youngest U.S. track and field athlete to compete at the Games since 1972. (She said she’s suffered a post-Olympics letdown after those Games; she failed to make the final). She’s also the only person to even be named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year twice.

In choosing Bobby Kersee as her new coach, McLaughlin became training partners with Allyson Felix, a long-time Kersee pupil. “Sydney McLaughlin possesses a quiet confidence that demands your attention,” Felix wrote about McLaughlin for this year’s issue of TIME 100 Next. She’s now poised to succeed Felix as the “face” of American track and field. “It’s really important and it’s really cool to be a part of this new wave,” McLaughlin said before the Tokyo opening ceremonies. “It’s kind of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”

Joyner-Kersee, bleary-eyed but proud, knows McLaughlin is ready. “She’s young, she’s humble, she’s fierce,” she says. “She will continue to bring the sport to a whole other level.”

Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:

  • Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
  • Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
  • Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
  • ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
  • Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
  • Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
  • 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
  • The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
  • Sydney McLaughlin Just Won the 400-m Hurdles. Remember Her Name. You'll Be Hearing a Lot of It (2024)

    FAQs

    Why didn't Sydney McLaughlin run the 400m? ›

    During an interview after winning the 400 hurdles, she spoke about why she ultimately decided to focus on the 400-meter hurdles for Paris. "I think we wanted to just stick with our bread and butter," McLaughlin-Levrone said.

    Who won the gold medal in women's 400m hurdles? ›

    Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashes her world record in 400m hurdles, wins Olympic gold The American finished finished her gold medal run in the 400m hurdles 1.5 seconds faster than her teammate Anna Cockrell who won silver.

    Who won the woman's 400 m hurdles in the 1992 Olympics? ›

    Sally Jane Janet Gunnell OBE DL (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track-and-field athlete, active between 1984 and 1997, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles.

    What is the new women's 400m hurdles world record? ›

    The longest-standing world record of 52.34 seconds was set by Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia in 2003 and stood for almost 16 years until 2019. The current world record of 50.37 seconds was set by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States in 2024.

    Who holds the fastest 400m? ›

    The current men's world record and Olympic record is held by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa; his time of 43.03 seconds is the fastest 400 m ever run, either in an open 400 m or a relay.

    Will Sydney McLaughlin compete in 2024? ›

    While she has yet to medal, McLaughlin-Levrone's 2024 Paris Olympics debut is underway and it's been a dominant one.

    What is the longest hurdle event? ›

    The 400 metres hurdles at the Summer Olympics is the longest hurdling event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 400 m hurdles has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, with a sole gap at the 1912 Summer Olympics.

    What is the women's 400m world record? ›

    Filter All Time Top Lists
    RankMarkCompetitor
    147.60Marita KOCH
    247.99Jarmila KRATOCHVÍLOVÁ
    348.14Salwa Eid NASER
    448.17Marileidy PAULINO
    41 more rows

    Who was the only female British athlete to win a gold medal in the Olympics? ›

    About Sally

    Sally Gunnell stormed to victory in 400m hurdles at Barcelona 1992, becoming the first British woman to win Olympic gold on the track since Ann Packer in 1964.

    What is the women's 400m hurdles American record? ›

    400 Metres Hurdles
    TypeMarkCountry
    World Championships in Athletics Records50.68USA
    World Leading 202450.37USA
    Olympic Games Records50.37USA
    Area Records - Africa52.90MAR
    8 more rows

    Who is the fastest woman in hurdles? ›

    Tobi AMUSAN

    How many times has Sydney McLaughlin broken the world record? ›

    Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaks 400-meter hurdles world record for fifth time. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record at the US Olympic Trials.

    Who is faster, Femke Bol or Sydney McLaughlin? ›

    Bol won the heat 4 of the competition in 53.38s to book a direct place in the semifinals. McLaughlin-Levrone was a tad slower at 53.60s but finished first in heat 5, whose second-place finisher clocked 55.26. The second-place finisher in Bol's heat clocked 53.95, which pushed the world champion to run faster.

    Who holds the women's 400m world record? ›

    Marita KOCH

    Who won the 400m in the Sydney Olympics? ›

    The event was won by 0.56 seconds by Michael Johnson of the United States, successfully defending his 1996 gold medal (the only man to do so in the history of the Olympic 400 metres race).

    Did Sydney McLaughlin break her own world record? ›

    McLaughlin-Levrone once again broke her own world record, powering over the 400-meter hurdles in 50.37 seconds on Thursday night to defend her Olympic title. The 25-year-old American has now lowered the world record six times.

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