Recently, Sydney Mclaughlin broke her own world record again. She has been undefeated in the 400-meter hurdles since 2019.
McLaughlin grew up in central New Jersey, and was a teenage prodigy at Union Catholic High School. She is simply the fastest women’s 400-meter hurdler in history. She first broke Muhammad’s world record in 2021 at the U.S. Olympic trials. Then, she broke it again a few weeks later when she won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Before, McLaughlin was already the reigning Olympic gold medalist. On Friday night, McLaughlin broke the world record for the fourth time in two years. She finished with 50.68 seconds to win her first world championship. Femke Bol of the Netherlands was second in 52.27 seconds, and Daliah Muhammad finished third in 53.13 seconds.
McLaughlin defeated two of the women who advanced to Friday’s 400-meter final — while clearing 10 hurdles. She also trimmed 0.73 seconds from her previous world record, which she had set 27 days earlier at the U.S. championships.
“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, adding: “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.”
Last month, McLaughlin lowered the record again, running 51.41 seconds at the U.S. championships. Muhammad chose not to compete.
In the run-up to the world championship final, McLaughlin put on another extraordinary performance. On Wednesday, she won in 52.17 seconds, which would have been the world record just three years ago.
“I would definitely say it’s a flow state,” she said, “where you’re putting everything that you’ve done in practice into the race to the point where you’re just letting your body do what it does.”
McLaughlin grew up in central New Jersey, and was a teenage prodigy at Union Catholic High School. She is simply the fastest women’s 400-meter hurdler in history. She first broke Muhammad’s world record in 2021 at the U.S. Olympic trials. Then, she broke it again a few weeks later when she won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Before, McLaughlin was already the reigning Olympic gold medalist. On Friday night, McLaughlin broke the world record for the fourth time in two years. She finished with 50.68 seconds to win her first world championship. Femke Bol of the Netherlands was second in 52.27 seconds, and Daliah Muhammad finished third in 53.13 seconds.
McLaughlin defeated two of the women who advanced to Friday’s 400-meter final — while clearing 10 hurdles. She also trimmed 0.73 seconds from her previous world record, which she had set 27 days earlier at the U.S. championships.
“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, adding: “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.”
Last month, McLaughlin lowered the record again, running 51.41 seconds at the U.S. championships. Muhammad chose not to compete.
In the run-up to the world championship final, McLaughlin put on another extraordinary performance. On Wednesday, she won in 52.17 seconds, which would have been the world record just three years ago.
“I would definitely say it’s a flow state,” she said, “where you’re putting everything that you’ve done in practice into the race to the point where you’re just letting your body do what it does.”