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, in the final race of the evening.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]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 X 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. And she’ll almost definitely run the 4 X 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 her fourth career Olympic gold medal.
The victory for the Dunelin, N.J. native justified the strategy of keeping McLaughlin-Levrone out of the mixed relay, and 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.
Much like Katie Ledecky in the pool, McLaughlin-Levrone is a lower-key presence on the track than, say, Noah Lyles, who took bronze 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 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.
