McLaughlin-Levrone breaks record in 400m hurdles

EUGENE, Ore. — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her world record once again, running the 400-meter hurdles in 50.65 seconds Sunday to win the U.S. Olympic trials.

In only her fourth long hurdles race of the season, the 24-year-old defending Olympic champion cleared all 10 barriers with ease then went on a dead sprint to the line to break the record for the fifth time. Four of those marks have now come on the track at University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

She held her hand over her mouth and stared when she saw the time come up. The mark was .03 seconds better than her run at Hayward in the 2022 world championships.

“My husband asked me yesterday, ‘What do you think you can do?’ and I told him, ‘I don’t know,'” McLaughlin-Levrone said in an interview over the stadium PA system. “Then today, I crossed the line and I’m like, ‘Oh, snap.’ I’m blessed and happy to be here.”

In an event that used to be decided by steps or slivers, McLaughlin-Levrone’s victory was by 1.99 seconds over Anna Cockrell and 2.12 over Jasmine Jones.

It doesn’t so much reset the storyline for the Olympics — McLaughlin-Levrone would’ve been the big-time favorite either way — as it makes those in and around the sport rethink what’s possible.

From 2003 to 2019, the world record in this event stayed stuck at 52.34. American Dalilah Muhammad broke it twice in 2019 — the second time at the world championships in a race that demoralized McLaughlin-Levrone and sparked a move over to coach Bobby Kersee.

One of Kersee’s biggest adjustments was dropping her to 14 strides between the early hurdles. It was a game-changer that has put her in a class by herself since she first set the record in 2021 — on the final day of Olympic trials on the track in Eugene, just like this time.

“I’ve been growing as a person and growing as an athlete” with Kersee in charge, McLaughlin-Levrone said. “He challenges me and pushes me in ways I didn’t think were possible.”

Now, instead of a much-anticipated showdown with Femke Bol of the Netherlands, the conversation might turn to when the 50-second mark might come tumbling down in this race. Maybe as soon as Aug. 8, which is the date of the Olympic final in Paris.

“It could happen,” hurdling great Edwin Moses told The Associated Press. “She might need a couple more races, but that’s about it.”