Clearing the hurdles in a lightning-fast speed, she runs a victory lap as she breaks her own world record for the fourth time. She was unstoppable, no one was even close to her. Sydney McLaughlin, age 22, is known as the fastest woman’s 400-meter hurdler in history, completing the race in 50.68 seconds.
McLaughlin grew up in central New Jersey and was a teenage running prodigy at Union High School. She broke many world records nearly a decade later, one of them being Dalilah Muhammed’s 53.13 second record. Muhammed still ended up with the silver, the second fastest-time, at the U.S. Olympic trials. Both spectators and judges are surprised because Muhammed was the defending Olympic champion before McLaughlin took her place, beating Muhammed by 0.12 of a second.
This athlete has real natural talent. McLaughlin, for the past several years, has “smashed” the world records to pieces, defeating her rivals as easily as a person crushes an ant. She trimmed out 0.73 seconds from her previous record 27 days earlier at the U.S Championship at the 400-meter finals, all while clearing 10 hurdles.
Yet, despite that, extraordinary McLaughlin still sees place for improvement! “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.” She says, noting that she stalled a little at the beginning.
Thinking about the future, McLaughlin discussed options with her coach, Bobby Kersee, at the season’s end. She said the possibilities were for her to keep competing in the 400-meter or 100-meter hurdles, or any other track-and-field event. But, no matter what she chooses, McLaughlin is definitely going to crush some world records!
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/sports/olympics/mclaughlin-muhammad-400-hurdles.html
McLaughlin grew up in central New Jersey and was a teenage running prodigy at Union High School. She broke many world records nearly a decade later, one of them being Dalilah Muhammed’s 53.13 second record. Muhammed still ended up with the silver, the second fastest-time, at the U.S. Olympic trials. Both spectators and judges are surprised because Muhammed was the defending Olympic champion before McLaughlin took her place, beating Muhammed by 0.12 of a second.
This athlete has real natural talent. McLaughlin, for the past several years, has “smashed” the world records to pieces, defeating her rivals as easily as a person crushes an ant. She trimmed out 0.73 seconds from her previous record 27 days earlier at the U.S Championship at the 400-meter finals, all while clearing 10 hurdles.
Yet, despite that, extraordinary McLaughlin still sees place for improvement! “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.” She says, noting that she stalled a little at the beginning.
Thinking about the future, McLaughlin discussed options with her coach, Bobby Kersee, at the season’s end. She said the possibilities were for her to keep competing in the 400-meter or 100-meter hurdles, or any other track-and-field event. But, no matter what she chooses, McLaughlin is definitely going to crush some world records!
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/sports/olympics/mclaughlin-muhammad-400-hurdles.html
