Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaks 400 meter hurdles world record for fifth time

CNN
—

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400-meter hurdles world record for the fifth time Sunday, clocking 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic trials.

The 24-year-old beat her previous record, which was also set at Eugene’s Hayward Field two years ago, by 0.03 seconds to earn a spot on the US team for the Paris Olympics.

Running in lane five, McLaughlin-Levrone was leading the race at the 250-meter mark and had opened up a huge lead as she raced down the home stretch.

She finished almost two seconds ahead of Anna Cockrell in second place, with a look of disbelief on her face as she crossed the line and caught her breath.

“I honestly didn’t expect this moment,” McLaughlin-Levrone later told reporters, adding: “Knowing that there’s more out there and there’s more to fix is ​​just a confidence booster going into Paris.”

Although she had only run the 400m hurdles once this year before the U.S. trials, McLaughlin-Levrone cruised through her heats heading into Sunday’s final.

She will head to the Paris Olympics as one of the stars of the American team and a strong favourite to defend her title from three years ago, with Dutch athlete Femke Bol likely to provide her strongest competition.

Cockrell and Jasmine Jones rounded out the U.S. Trials podium with personal times of 52.64 and 52.77 to qualify for the Paris Games.

“I would love to go under 50 at some point,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “I don’t know if it’s this year or if it’s next year. It’s just about always progressing, seeing what’s possible and continuing to improve the race.

“There are so many different ways to run and I feel like every time I’m on the track I find out what the best way is.”

McLaughlin-Levrone now holds seven of the ten fastest 400m hurdles times in history, while four of his five world records were set at Hayward Field.

In the men’s event, Rai Benjamin set a trials record of 46.46 seconds as he hopes to improve on the silver medal he won behind Norway’s Karsten Warholm at the Tokyo Olympics. CJ Allen and Trevor Bassitt also made the team after finishing second and third respectively.