Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record at the US Olympic Trials, clocking 50.65 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. This was the fifth time she broke the world record, shaving 0.03 seconds off her previous record set at Eugene’s Hayward Field two years ago.
Despite competing in the 400m hurdles just once this year before the US trials, McLaughlin-Levrone breezed through her heats leading up to the final. During the trials, Anna Cockrell and Jasmine Jones also secured their spots in the Paris Games with personal-best times.
McLaughlin-Levrone now holds seven of the 10 fastest times in history in the 400m hurdles, with four of her five world records set at Hayward Field. On the men’s side, Rai Benjamin set a trials record of 46.46 in the event and will be looking to upgrade his silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics.
Looking ahead, McLaughlin-Levrone aims to continue improving and possibly dip under the 50-second mark at some point. She finished almost two seconds ahead of Anna Cockrell during a post-race interview and expressed disbelief at her performance while mentioning that there was still room for improvement
