Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, an American, won a stunning gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles event in Paris, smashing her own world record in the process.
The much-awaited title matchup between McLaughlin-Levrone and Dutch sensation Femke Bol never really happened as the former left her competitors far behind to retain the title in 50.37 seconds.
Bol, the second-fastest woman in the event’s history, faltered to place third in 52.15, trailing only American silver medallist Anna Cockrell’s personal best time of 51.87.
In June, McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record of 50.65, but she kept her greatest performance for the main event of the sport, where she won her sixth global championship.
McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol have combined to run 17 of the top 20 fastest times ever recorded.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning champion and world record holder, was the favorite going into their most recent meeting. She had hinted at this form by beating her previous best time two months prior.
Though Bol had made her own strides, she was only the second woman to run under 51 seconds over the obstacles, having set a new European 400-meter hurdles record in July and a world record for the indoor 400-meter flat this year.
In the mixed 4x400m relay earlier in the Games, Bol delivered an incredible sprint finish to move the Netherlands from fourth place to gold. However, this time, the 24-year-old lacked the legs to challenge a joyful McLaughlin-Levrone.
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McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned 25 on Wednesday stated, “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.”
She described what it took to complete her gold quest, stating, “Just a lot of hard effort put in this year. I knew it was going to be a tough race. An amazing competition all the way round.”
