Last Friday, Sydney McLaughlin broke her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the World Championships. The race was not an easy win, as McLaughlin knew she would need to beat Dalilah Muhammad, the previous world record holder until 2019.
The total length of the race is 400-meters and athletes must clear the 10 hurdles precisely placed 15 feet apart. McLaughlin said after her 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. I still think [the race] wasn’t super clean.”
At the World Championships, McLaughlin broke her own world record for the fourth time within two years. She had a time improvement of 0.73 seconds from her previously set world record 27 days earlier at the U.S. Championships. Her total time was 50.68 seconds. Coming in second was Femke Bol representing the Netherlands with a time of 52.27 and Muhammad finished third with a time of 53.13.
Previously, Muhammad had been going through injuries and caught the coronavirus, which interrupted her training. She said, “I was kind of nervous, honestly, going into this meet, not knowing where my fitness level would be. So, to get a medal shows my resilience as an athlete.”
In the homestretch, the gap between McLaughlin and Bol was quite large. Nobody was close to chasing down the world record holder. “I would definitely say it’s a flow state,” McLaughlin 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.
Looking toward the future, McLaughlin said that there was a possibility that she would compete in both the 100-meter and the 400-meter hurdles. In all cases, McLaughlin would still be chasing down more world records.
The total length of the race is 400-meters and athletes must clear the 10 hurdles precisely placed 15 feet apart. McLaughlin said after her 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. I still think [the race] wasn’t super clean.”
At the World Championships, McLaughlin broke her own world record for the fourth time within two years. She had a time improvement of 0.73 seconds from her previously set world record 27 days earlier at the U.S. Championships. Her total time was 50.68 seconds. Coming in second was Femke Bol representing the Netherlands with a time of 52.27 and Muhammad finished third with a time of 53.13.
Previously, Muhammad had been going through injuries and caught the coronavirus, which interrupted her training. She said, “I was kind of nervous, honestly, going into this meet, not knowing where my fitness level would be. So, to get a medal shows my resilience as an athlete.”
In the homestretch, the gap between McLaughlin and Bol was quite large. Nobody was close to chasing down the world record holder. “I would definitely say it’s a flow state,” McLaughlin 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.
Looking toward the future, McLaughlin said that there was a possibility that she would compete in both the 100-meter and the 400-meter hurdles. In all cases, McLaughlin would still be chasing down more world records.
