For Sydney McLaughlin, beating world records is a common occurrence. She has broken record after record, and Friday, July 22nd, was no different.
In just two years, this is the fourth time McLaughlin has broken the world record in 400-meter hurdles.
With a time of 50.68 seconds, she beat second place Femke Bol’s 52.27 seconds by more than a second and a half. Her time broke her previous record by 0.73 seconds, which was set only about a month prior at the U.S. championships.
Even with her huge accomplishment, however, McLaughlin thinks she can do a lot better.
“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. “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.”
McLaughlin is the current defending gold-medalist at the Olympics, being undefeated since 2019. Her main opponents are Bol and the third-place finisher Dalilah Muhammad, who has also had many impressive accomplishments, but had to interrupt her training due to injuries.
“I was kind of nervous, honestly, going into this meet, not knowing where my fitness level would be,” Muhammad said. “So to get a medal shows my resilience as an athlete.”
Bol is also not someone to forget about. She won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, and has been steadily improving, even getting the 7th fastest time ever, all top 6 times belonging to McLaughlin and Muhammad. She is still a contender for the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
McLaughlin broke Muhammad’s previous world record in 2021, at the U.S. Olympic trials, and again at the Tokyo Olympics that same year.
However, with McLaughlin’s incredible skill and determination, this new record will not stand for long.
Source Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html
In just two years, this is the fourth time McLaughlin has broken the world record in 400-meter hurdles.
With a time of 50.68 seconds, she beat second place Femke Bol’s 52.27 seconds by more than a second and a half. Her time broke her previous record by 0.73 seconds, which was set only about a month prior at the U.S. championships.
Even with her huge accomplishment, however, McLaughlin thinks she can do a lot better.
“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. “I still think that wasn’t even a super clean race.”
McLaughlin is the current defending gold-medalist at the Olympics, being undefeated since 2019. Her main opponents are Bol and the third-place finisher Dalilah Muhammad, who has also had many impressive accomplishments, but had to interrupt her training due to injuries.
“I was kind of nervous, honestly, going into this meet, not knowing where my fitness level would be,” Muhammad said. “So to get a medal shows my resilience as an athlete.”
Bol is also not someone to forget about. She won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, and has been steadily improving, even getting the 7th fastest time ever, all top 6 times belonging to McLaughlin and Muhammad. She is still a contender for the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
McLaughlin broke Muhammad’s previous world record in 2021, at the U.S. Olympic trials, and again at the Tokyo Olympics that same year.
However, with McLaughlin’s incredible skill and determination, this new record will not stand for long.
Source Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/sports/sydney-mclaughlin-400-hurdles.html
