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SAINT-DENIS, France — The showdown between the world’s two best 400-meter hurdlers — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol — turned out to be a race between McLaughlin-Levrone and the clock.
McLaughlin-Levrone came to Paris as the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Bol had taken advantage of the American star’s absence to win gold at the World Championships last year.
Earlier this summer, McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400m hurdles world record for the fifth time since June 2021. In June, her Dutch rival was the only other 400m hurdler ever to break the 51-second barrier.
The meeting of the two best hurdlers in the world on Thursday, 748 days after they last met, was even more exciting, and not just because Olympic gold was at stake. Then the starting gun sounded, McLaughlin-Levrone stormed out of the blocks, was caught by Bol on the final bend and ran the last 100 meters alone, chasing only herself.
When she crossed the finish line, the clock showed 50.37 seconds, 0.28 seconds faster than anyone else – namely herself – had run the race before.
And it wasn’t Bol who followed her across the finish line. Her American compatriot Anna Cockrell finished second with 51.87 seconds, while Bol had to settle for bronze (52.15).
To put McLaughlin-Levrone’s stunning time into perspective, it is important to remember that it is not just 400-meter hurdlers who cannot keep up with her. McLaughlin-Levrone ran faster on Thursday night than 16 of the 24 women who competed in the Olympic open 400-meter semifinals the night before. This is the race without 10 hurdles.
Achieving the seemingly impossible is McLaughlin-Levrone’s motivation.
At the Olympic qualifying competitions six weeks ago, she said: “I find it really exciting to find out how to improve the story.”
McLaughlin-Levrone’s victory cements her dominance in the 400-meter hurdles and underlines her position as the most dominant female athlete in track and field. She last lost a 400-meter hurdles race in July 2019, a streak of 25 races in a row.
She competed against Bol three times during this time. She won three times by a clear margin. McLaughlin-Levrone and Muhammad defeated the 21-year-old Bol in the Olympic 400-meter final three years ago in Tokyo. McLaughlin-Lavrone’s lead increased to a massive 1.59 seconds at the World Championships the following year.
What happened next is what made Thursday night’s final so exciting. Bol, 24, has made steady progress over the past two years, improving her times, gaining confidence and crushing everyone in her path. The sight of Bol with her arms raised in victory has become one of the most common on the international track circuit.
Continuing to race sporadically, McLaughlin-Lavrone, 25, preferred to save herself for the World Championships. She took a year off from the 400m hurdles and accepted the challenge of focusing on the open 400m for the first time in her career.
The rarity of the encounters between McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol added to the tension as Thursday night’s final approached. Both athletes are used to running at the front, and no one knew who would back off first in the face of racing pressure.
McLaughlin-Levrone was destined for world domination before she was old enough to drive. By age 16, the New Jersey native had already won her first Gatorade Award as high school athlete of the year, rewritten high school records and made the U.S. Olympic team for the first time.
In a sport full of teenage phenoms who failed to live up to their expectations, McLaughlin is the exception. When McLaughlin-Levrone turned pro after her freshman year at Kentucky, Muhammad had just begun to break old barriers by running under 53 seconds. McLaughlin-Levrone seized that opportunity and built on it, bringing with her a generation of young hurdlers who now run 52s and 53s alongside her.
It’s not just one quality that makes McLaughlin-Levrone so great, her rivals say. It’s the combination of speed, endurance and hurdling technique that makes her so dangerous. McLaughlin-Levrone’s fastest time this season in the 200 meters would have been enough to win silver in Tuesday’s Olympic final. Her best time in the 400 meters is the second fastest in the world this year.
Competing in these events could be an option another year, but for now, McLaughlin-Levrone is content to be the queen of the 400m hurdles.
How much faster could McLaughlin-Levrone get? The answer Muhammad gave earlier this summer should prompt McLaughlin-Lavrone’s opponents to look for new competitions.
Muhammad said: “I still believe she can do 49.”
To get there, she only has to shave 0.38.
