There was already little to doubt about Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s legacy as one of the all-time great track athletes. On Thursday in Tokyo, on the track where she won the Olympic gold in 2021 with the 400m Hurdles world record (which she has broken a few more times since), the American superstar produced another magical performance. Sydney became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack 48 seconds in the 400 meters Thursday, running 47.78 in a historically fast one-lap race at the world championships. The hurdle world-record holder now holds the second-fastest 400m of all time, while – according to World Athletics – for the first time in history two women dipped under 48 seconds in a single 400m race.
Pushed by second-place finisher Marileidy Paulino, who clocked a 47.98 of he own on the rain-slickened track in Tokyo, Sydney captured her first global title in the 400 flat after dominating the hurdles for the last four years. The second and third-fastest times in history in this race trail only the 47.60 by East Germany’s Marita Koch, set Oct. 6, 1985 — one of the last remaining vestiges in track from an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed years after it ended. Third-place finisher Salwa Eid Nasar clocked 48.19, a time that would have won the last two world championships.
“It’s amazing, it’s an honour. I knew there were a lot of people doubting me with making the switch from 400 metres hurdles to the flat 400m, but ultimately, I had faith in my training. I knew I had it in me (to run that fast). It was just a matter of time. I knew this feeling was going to be amazing,” Sydney was quoted as saying by World Athletics.
Nobody had come within a half-second of Koch’s controversial mark until this race. “You don’t run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it,” Sydney added, as per an AP report. “It definitely helped having Mariledy in the outer lane where I could see her. But I still had to get the work done. My coach told me to get out of the blocks as fast as possible, not to stay in it for long. I knew the girls were going to push me but what mattered was to stay composed.”
When she crossed the line, McLaughlin-Levrone looked over to the clock, then put her hands on her head in apparent shock.In the lead-up to the worlds, she insisted the women needed to think about breaking 48 before they go after what was once thought to be an unapproachable world record. Now, that record is on shaky footing. A lot will depend on what America’s most accomplished one-lap sprinter decides to do over the next few years. She has broken the 400 hurdles world record six times, most recently at last year’s Olympics where she lowered it to 50.37 seconds.
It was a much different scene this time compared to her magical hurdles run four years back — with fans in the stands, screaming as she rounded the oval, then headed into the home stretch in a tight battle with Paulino that wasn’t in the bag until the last 30 meters.
It was McLaughlin-Levrone’s 19th straight victory in a one-lap race — hurdles and flat — dating to June 2023. Paulino, the reigning Olympic champion, said it felt special. “I’m thankful for having the opportunity to break 48,” she said. “I still feel like a winner. I’ve spent five years every day training for this.”
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Now, with still three years left for LA, all the attention will be on how Sydney handles the next couple of seasons, with expectations that she’d compete in both 400m and 400m hurdles at the home Olympic Games, where she’d be one of the poster athletes.
“There are so many people who have been there for me – my husband, my coach Bob(by) (Kersee), Jackie (Joyner-Kersee), so many others. I know I am one person running on the track but there has been an army behind me. There are hundreds of people helping me. We will need to talk about the schedule for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Maybe I could do both 400m and 400m hurdles. I would need some days off between those events and there is a tough field in both events. You’ve got to respect all the girls. In order to put your best performances together, you need your body to be ready for it,” Sydney said.
(With AP inputs)
