McLaughlin is the first person ever to successfully complete a 400m hurdles course in just under 52 seconds.
Follow Us
American sprinter Sydney McLaughlin created history on Sunday as she broke the 400m hurdles at the US Olympic trials. The 21-year-old clocked a time of 51.90 seconds, shattering the previous record by 0.26 seconds. She is the first person ever to successfully complete a 400m hurdles course in under 52 seconds. Obviously, she won the race at the US trials, beating Dalilah Muhammad by 0.52 seconds. It was a blowout victory in what is being called by fans the best race of the 10-day meet. The competition between McLaughlin and Muhammad, however, is also being seen potentially as one of the most exciting races of the Olympics. It is scheduled to be held on August 4 at The Games.
“Truly just faith and trusting the process,” the 21-year-old said after the race.
“It was trusting the process, and a lot of things you can’t really see coming,” she added.
McLaughlin had burst onto the scene five years ago when she was still a teenager. She had shown an immense talent for the sport at the time. Her time of under 52 seconds set a new world record. The previous one was set by her fierce rival, and the one she beat on Sunday, Dalilah Muhammad. The record was set two years ago when Muhammad beat McLaughlin at the world championships. Muhammad was in a rich vein of form at the time since she broke her own record two years ago. She had set the previous record a few weeks earlier to the world championships, at the US nationals. There also she had beaten McLaughlin for the crown.
McLaughlin then went to train under Bobby Kersee. He is the one who got the best out of the likes of Allyson Felix, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Florence Griffith Joyner and would put McLaughlin through training routines that would help her catch up to Muhammad in the future. He put McLaughlin on a new plan, getting her focused on form and running shorter hurdles courses. Clearly, the couple of years of hard work by coach and athlete came to fruition on Sunday. McLaughlin was full of praise for her coach after setting the new world record.
“But just having the childlike faith in trusting everything is going to work out. Bobby’s really good at that,” she said.
Dalilah Muhammed might have been disappointed by the result, but was happy with her performance nonetheless. She has had a slow return to form this year. The former record holder said that she was content for the time being by completing the race in 52 seconds as she could not break 55 seconds when the year started.
“She definitely pushes me,” Muhammed said after the race about McLaughlin. “Congratulations, you world record holder. It’s going to be a battle in Tokyo for sure,” she added.
