On Friday, July 22nd, 22-year-old Sydney McLaughlin won the 400-meter hurdles at the Track and Field World Championships, finishing with a world record time of 50.68 seconds.
The time was very shocking, as it had improved on the previous world record by .73 second,
which was also set by McLaughlin only a month earlier at the US National Championships. What was more astonishing about this time was that it was faster than two of the women’s 400-meter final times at the World Championships, even though McLaughlin had to jump over 10 hurdles.
She continues her dominance even in the presence of strong athletes in her field, such as Daliah Muhammad and Netherland’s Femke Bol. Since her loss to Muhammad at the World Championships in Doha back in 2019, McLaughlin has won every 400-meter hurdles race she’s competed in. For this year’s World Championships 400-meter hurdles final, Bol came in second with a time of 52.27 seconds, while Muhammad came in third in 53.13 seconds.
Both Bol and Muhammad are formidable opponents in the event as Muhammad is a former Olympic and world champion and Bol is a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympics. Bol also has the seventh-fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles, with the other top six run by both McLaughlin and Muhammad.
Bol, who is also 22, could be a strong competitor for McLaughlin at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
However, she still has a way to go before catching up to McLaughlin, shown during Friday night’s final. McLaughlin already created a lead by the 200-meter mark, and by the time she reached the homestretch, she was all by herself, winning by over 1.5 seconds.
After winning on Friday, McLaughlin had planned to talk to her coach Bobby Kersee once the season is over about other events she could do, showing interest in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash. It seemed she wanted to win and achieve records in other events as she said, “[m]y coach thinks there’s a lot more to be done.”
Although this world record is an amazing feat, McLaughlin said that she could run even faster and didn’t believe that her world record was a perfect race. “I think we’re all figuring out that, yes, there are 10 barriers, but we can run them a lot faster than people think,” she said.
Link to Article:https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html
The time was very shocking, as it had improved on the previous world record by .73 second,
which was also set by McLaughlin only a month earlier at the US National Championships. What was more astonishing about this time was that it was faster than two of the women’s 400-meter final times at the World Championships, even though McLaughlin had to jump over 10 hurdles.
She continues her dominance even in the presence of strong athletes in her field, such as Daliah Muhammad and Netherland’s Femke Bol. Since her loss to Muhammad at the World Championships in Doha back in 2019, McLaughlin has won every 400-meter hurdles race she’s competed in. For this year’s World Championships 400-meter hurdles final, Bol came in second with a time of 52.27 seconds, while Muhammad came in third in 53.13 seconds.
Both Bol and Muhammad are formidable opponents in the event as Muhammad is a former Olympic and world champion and Bol is a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympics. Bol also has the seventh-fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles, with the other top six run by both McLaughlin and Muhammad.
Bol, who is also 22, could be a strong competitor for McLaughlin at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
However, she still has a way to go before catching up to McLaughlin, shown during Friday night’s final. McLaughlin already created a lead by the 200-meter mark, and by the time she reached the homestretch, she was all by herself, winning by over 1.5 seconds.
After winning on Friday, McLaughlin had planned to talk to her coach Bobby Kersee once the season is over about other events she could do, showing interest in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash. It seemed she wanted to win and achieve records in other events as she said, “[m]y coach thinks there’s a lot more to be done.”
Although this world record is an amazing feat, McLaughlin said that she could run even faster and didn’t believe that her world record was a perfect race. “I think we’re all figuring out that, yes, there are 10 barriers, but we can run them a lot faster than people think,” she said.
Link to Article:https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html