Sydney McLaughlin broke her own world record in the 400m hurdles, and this time, she didn’t put any doubt that she’s the best in her sport.
Racing in the gold medal event of the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships, McLaughlin ran for a staggering 50.68 seconds. She is the first woman to run under 51 seconds in the event.
As mentioned, the 22-year-old actually surpassed her own record in the event. She ran for 51.41 seconds at the US Championships late in June. Overall in the past 13 months, she has broken the world record four times–first doing it at the US Olympic Trials in 2021 when she went under 52 seconds at 51.90, and then in the Tokyo Olympics where she recorded 51.46 for the gold medal.
McLaughlin, of course, blew out the rest of the competition in Friday’s race. The Netherlands’ Femke Bol finished second at 52.27, while fellow American Dalilah Muhammad got the bronze medal after clocking in 53.13. That’s more than a second margin against the silver medalist, which is simply unheard of in the competition.
Sydney McLaughlin breaks the women’s 400m hurdles World Record for the 4th time in the last 13 months 😱
50.68 – NEW RECORD
51.14 seconds – @GoSydGo's previous record from a month ago(via @NBCSports)pic.twitter.com/40d7KJMqTS
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 23, 2022
Interestingly, though, Sydney McLaughlin knew she can set a new world record. In fact, the American hurdler and sprinter said after setting the new world record that she thought she could go faster.
“We thought we’d be able to go a little bit faster [than 50.68],” McLaughlin told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports. “But we’re super grateful with that time. Anything under 51 was a win for us.”
Does that mean McLaughlin can go faster than that? It sure looks like it.
It remains to be seen what’s next for the young rising sprinter, but it’ll definitely be awesome to see her break more records and perhaps go sub-50!
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