Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone tore another chunk off the 400m hurdles world record in a stunning defence of her Olympic crown at the Stade de France in Paris.
The race was billed as a showdown between the American and her Dutch rival Femke Bol, the only two women in history to break the 51-second barrier. But McLaughlin-Levrone was on another plane, winning gold in 50.37 sec, well clear of the rest.
In doing so she shaved nearly three tenths of a second off the record mark she set at the US trials in June. Few athletes have ever delivered physics-defying brilliance with the consistency of McLaughlin-Levrone, who has now run the fastest time in history in all of her last six major championship finals.
Behind her, Bol settled for bronze in 52.15 sec after she was beaten down the home straight by USA’s Anna Cockrell, who clocked 51.87 sec for silver.
To understand what she is doing to this event, consider the women’s flat 400m final due to take place on Friday night. Only two of the eight Olympic finalists have ever run faster than McLaughlin-Levrone’s winning time here. Had she been in the third 400m semi-final, with 10 hurdles in her way, she would have won the race.
She had signed up to run the 200m and 400m events at June’s US trials, before pulling out of both when she realised how congested her schedule would be in Paris. Instead she chose to concentrate on the 400m hurdles – “my first love” – and defending her Olympic title won in Tokyo. She did it by bursting through to a whole new time zone.
“I’m grateful to God for this opportunity, grateful to be celebrating my birthday like this,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned 25 on Wednesday. “Just a super opportunity, you can’t even imagine. My whole family’s here. We’re going to celebrate, we’re going to enjoy this time and get ready for the relay too.
“It’s amazing to see our sport continue to grow, for people to want to watch the 400m hurdles, it’s amazing. Just a lot of hard work put in this year. I knew it was going to be a tough race. An amazing competition all the way round.”
Despite her achievements, there was still an element of mystery coming into the race. McLaughlin-Levrone had only raced Bol twice before and not at all for more than two years.
She ran a world record 50.65 sec in the trials to book her place in Paris, but Femke Bol responded with a 50.95 sec at a pre-Games meeting in Switzerland, and the seeds of rivalry were sown.
Dutch fans certainly believed. Pockets of orange filled the Stade de France and the roar that greeted Bol’s arrival let her know they were here.
Bol got off to a good start and there wasn’t much to choose between the favourites entering the back straight. But there McLaughlin-Levrone settled into a rhythm, looking perfectly balanced, taking each hurdle like a mild inconvenience rather than a 76cm-high barrier.
Bol faded, and afterwards revealed her frustration with a time more than a second shy of her sub-51 ran last month.
“All you want to do in an Olympic final is to put up your best race,” she said. “I screwed it up. I’m not sure where I made the mistake. I just got so much lactic acid with 300m to go. I’m not sure why, I really have no explanation. This is just a bad race. I’ll look at the positives, I’ll talk to my coach. I’ll try to enjoy the bronze.”
Cockrell was the benficiary of Bol’s lacklustre race, although she gave most of the credit to Beyonce.
“I’m just overwhelmed, I’m overcome,” said the 26-year-old from California. “There’s not much you can say when you have a PB and you win a medal. It all came together in the best possible way. My coach just told me to have fun, be myself, go out there and be Beyonce.
“I was singing Love On Top in the call room, so shout out to Beyonce. I’m really happy. I’m ugly crying, but I’m really happy.”
By the time she crossed the line, McLaughlin-Levrone was already off celebrating. What more ground can she break? The 400m flat is a target and it is not hard to imagine her attempting both events in Los Angeles in four years’ time.
Perhaps there was a clue as to her next trick in the replays of this win. She dipped five metres too early and was already lurching back upright when she crossed the line. McLaughlin-Levrone left time on the road, and that means the 50-second barrier is not safe.
