McLaughlin-Levrone seals Olympic double

Barrier-breaking McLaughlin-Levrone seals Olympic double. The 25-year old another entry into her catalogue of broken barriers Thursday as she stormed to gold in the 400m hurdles with a world record-breaking display to become the 1st woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the event.

From the moment she qualified for her first Olympic Games as a 16-year-old high school student, Sydney McLaughlin-LeVrone has never paid much attention to conventional wisdom.

The 25-year-old added another entry to her catalog of broken barriers on Thursday, when she won gold in the 400-meter hurdles with a new world record, becoming the first woman to win two Olympic titles in the event.

The American track and field star won the gold medal at the Stade de France in 50.37 seconds, beating current world champion Femke Boll of the Netherlands in 50.65 seconds, which she set in Eugene in June.

It was just the latest milestone in a colorful career in which McLaughlin-LeVrone has redefined what was previously thought possible in her field.

McLaughlin-LeVrone has broken the 400-meter hurdles world record at least six times in the past three years, including her recent impressive performance on Thursday. She became the first woman in history to run 51.90 seconds at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

She then improved her own record by a massive 0.44 seconds, winning her first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 51.46 seconds.

Not content with breaking the 52-second barrier, McLaughlin-LeVrone made more history in Eugene 2022, running 50.68 seconds, sub-51. The record she set at this year’s U.S. Trials was cut short again.

Thursday’s Olympic title continues her remarkable five-year winning streak.

Her last loss in the 400-meter hurdles was in the 2019 World Championships final in Doha, when she was narrowly outdone by compatriot Dalilah Muhammad. While she still has a long way to go before she can match Edwin Moses’ nine-year, nine-month winning streak from 1977 to 1987, there’s little question that McLaughlin-LeVrone can now confidently claim her best 400 meters as the best hurdler of all time.

Teenage Rise

McLaughlin-LeVrone was born in New Jersey in 1999, and athletics was born in her cradle.

Her father, Willie McLaughlin, reached the semifinals of the 400 meters at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, and her mother, Mary, was a fine half-mile runner.

As a young girl, McLaughlin-LeVrone watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics and her idol, Allyson Felix, and resolved to one day share the same stage.

After qualifying for her first Olympic Games as a teenager in 2016, McLaughlin-Levrone continued to improve steadily before winning an Olympic title in 2021. Since starting to work with new coach Bobby Kersee in 2020, her progress has accelerated. At the Tokyo Games, she competed in a quartet with Felix as part of the 4×400-meter relay team, which also won gold.

McLaughlin-LeVrone said of the 2021 gold medal, “I’ve wanted to do this since I was 8 years old, and it was such a relief when it finally happened.”

Thursday’s stunning victory in Paris boosted her chances of a third consecutive Olympic gold medal in four years in Los Angeles, where she lives and trains.

Though 2028 is still a long way off, McLaughlin-LeVrone sees herself running well beyond this summer.

“The more years go by, the harder it gets,” she said in a recent interview. “You push your body to its limits. It’s a physically and mentally taxing part of the sport, so it’s really important to take breaks and remember why you love it.

“Athletics isn’t going to last forever, so I want to keep enjoying it. I don’t want to take anything for granted.”