Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone sets world record in the women’s 400m hurdles

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There was a world record set in athletics on Thursday at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. At the Stade de France in Paris, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of New Brunswick, New Jersey had a world record time of 50.37 seconds in the women’s 400 metre hurdles as she won the gold medal.

Who had the old world record?

McLaughlin-Levrone has the old world record as well. She had a time of 50.65 seconds at the 2024 United States Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

Who joined McLaughlin-Levrone on the podium?

Anna Cockrell of San Ramon, California won the silver medal with a time of 51.87 seconds. Femke Bol of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 52.15 seconds. McLaughlin-Levrone reached the podium by 1.64 seconds over American Jasmine Jones of Atlanta, Georgia, who finished in fourth place with a time of 52.29 seconds.

Recent American Olympic Domination in the event

The women’s 400 metre hurdles have been on the Olympic stage since the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, the United States did not win Olympic gold the first seven times the event was part of the Olympic Games. Since 2012, four American women have won gold in women’s hurdles. Prior to McLaughlin-Levrone, Lashinda Demus of Inglewood, California won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and Dalilah Muhammad of Jamaica, New York won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This was the second straight Olympic gold medal for McLaughlin-Levrone, as she had a winning time of 51.46 seconds at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Fifth Straight World Record

McLaughlin-Levrone has had five straight world records in the women’s 400 metre hurdles. Her first world record came at the 2021 American Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon when she was the first hurdler to post a time under 52 seconds (51.9 seconds), That was followed by 51.46 seconds at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, 51.41 seconds at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, and 50.65 seconds at the 2024 Olympic trials.

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