American hurdling phenom Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 400-m event, breaking her own world record in the Olympic final for the second consecutive Games. She crossed the finish in 50.37 seconds, two places ahead of her rival, Femke Bol of the Netherlands. Anna Cockerel of the U.S. won silver.
“Grateful to be healthy and to come out of it in one piece,” said McLaughlin-Levrone afterward. “There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this race, but just grateful for all that has taken place. God has been good to me.”
McLaughlin-Levrone breaks her own world records—on giant stages such as the Olympics—with admirable nonchalance. “I crossed the line, I was definitely grateful for that time,” she said. “I was hoping it was a little faster. I’m sure there are some things in the middle there we can clean up. Walking away from this, I’m happy, I’m encouraged, and there’s always more work to do.”
Hype for the McLaughlin-Levrone-Bol bout reached a fever pitch going into this race. The Stade de France crowd was wearing more orange than usual, as thousands of Dutch fans filed in to cheer on Bol, whose stunning kick in the last lap of the 4×400-m mixed relay on Saturday night, which gave the Dutch team gold, seemed to send a message to the McLaughlin-Levrone camp. Bol—whose delightful high-pitched voice has received its fair share of attention—was a threat.
McLaughlin-Levrone, however, ultimately dismissed it. She had thought about running the mixed relay too, but having to run 400-m heats the next morning ultimately scared her off. “We just didn’t want to risk it,” she said. “But definitely something in the future, we’ve talked about wanting to do maybe in the years to come. It seems like a fun relay.”
The victory for the Dunellen, N.J., native justified the strategy of passing on an ambitious attempt to run both the hurdles and flat events. Ever since McLaughlin-Levrone skipped last year’s world championships with “a minor knee issue,” she said at the time, defending her gold in this race, on this night at the Olympics in Paris, was the paramount goal.
Bol dismissed the notion that running the mixed relay last week wore her legs out for her matchup with Laughlin-Levrone. “I’m used to racing a lot,” said Bol. “I think if I would have maybe put my race up differently, I could have run faster.”
McLaughlin-Levrone will almost definitely run the 4×400 relay this upcoming Saturday night, like she did in Tokyo. The American women are the overwhelming favorite in that race; a victory would give McLaughlin-Levrone her fourth career Olympic gold medal.
Much like Katie Ledecky in the pool, McLaughlin-Levrone is a lower-key presence on the track than, say, Noah Lyles, who took bronze in the 200-m race earlier in the night despite having COVID-19. “Sydney McLaughlin possesses a quiet confidence,” Felix wrote about McLaughlin-Levrone in TIME in 2021, “that demands your attention.” (McLaughlin and her husband, former NFL player Andre Levrone Jr., wed in 2022.) She wrote a book released in January— Far Beyond Gold: Running From Fear to Faith—that detailed her struggles to live up to expectations. She doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy doing interviews or crave commercials. “I love to sleep,” she enthused in a Women’s Health cover story that ran before the Games. Her talent, however, alights the track, nearly every time out. This repeat Olympic title was years in the making. McLaughlin-Levrone is the daughter of runners; her father, Willie, reached the 400-m semifinals at the 1984 Olympic trials, and her mother, Mary, ran in high school. “Track and field has always been part of our lives,” McLaughlin-Levrone told the Olympic Channel Podcast. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, McLaughlin, then 16, became the youngest athlete to make the U.S. Track and Field team since 1972. In 2017, McLaughlin became the first person to be named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year for two straight years. She spent a year at the University of Kentucky before turning pro.
Now, every time McLaughlin-Levrone hits the starting blocks, she’s a threat to push her sport to new limits. Whether she’s lining up against Bol or all other comers, mark your calendar for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and embrace her greatness—with reporting by Alice Park/Saint-Denis
