Sydney McLaughlin wins gold by breaking the 400-meter hurdles record
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At the World Championships in Eugene, Sydney McLaughlin broke her own record in the 400-meter hurdles by over three-quarters of a second.
When she crossed the finish line in 50.68 seconds, the 22-year-old American broke her own record of 51.41 seconds, which she had set in June, leaving her rivals in the dust.
In 52.27, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who had previously won bronze at the 2016 Tokyo Olympics, defeated Dalilah Muhammad of the United States to claim the silver medal.
Muhammad owned the world record before he twice smashed it in 2019. At the most recent world championships in Doha, he ran 52.16 on the second occasion to overcome McLaughlin and earn the gold.
However, after breaking the record four times in the preceding 13 months, McLaughlin has now run five of the six fastest times in history.
Her winning time was quicker than the seventh- and eighth-\place finishes in the women’s flat 400-meter final, which was completed on the same track 30 minutes earlier.
When the COVID epidemic made it necessary for sports to be practised in private, McLaughlin asserted that her family’s and fans’ encouragement inspired her to achieve new heights.
Second-placed Bol observed that it was strange to see McLaughlin’s pace up close.
It was wild, Bol exclaimed. Even though it felt amazing, I kept doubting whether I had a good race because she was so far ahead at the finish line.
She might switch the events, McLaughlin said once more, with a relocation to the 400-meter apartment seeming most plausible.
According to her, “Me and [coach] Bobby Kersee are going to go back after the season and decide if this is still an event I still want to do, or if we’re going to find something new because we’ve accomplished so much in it,” she stated in an interview with NBC.