In a record-breaking one-lap race at the world championships on September 18, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became the first American female to run under 48 seconds in the 400 meters, clocking in at 47.78.
After dominating the hurdles for the past four years, the 26-year-old athlete won her first global gold in the 400 flat.
The Associated Press reports that this is the second-fastest time in the race’s history, surpassed only by the 47.60 achieved on October 6, 1985, by Marita Koch of East Germany. Until now, no one had come within a half-second of Koch’s time.
Marileidy Paulino, who finished second on Thursday, ran 47.98, and Salwa Eid Naser, who finished third, ran 48.19.
“You don’t run something like that without amazing women pushing you to do it,” McLaughlin-Levrone told AP.
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When she crossed the finish line, McLaughlin-Levrone looked over at the clock and placed her hands on her head, clearly shocked.
The groundbreaker has broken the 400-meter hurdles world record six times, most notably at the Olympics last year, when she dropped it to 50.37 seconds. Thursday’s race was held on the same track where McLaughlin-Levrone achieved her second hurdles world record at the 2021 Olympics.
“At the end of the day, this wasn’t my title to hold onto, it was mine to gain,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Bobby uses boxing terms all the time. He said, ‘You’ve got to go out there and take the belt. It’s not yours. You’ve got to go earn it.’”
Bobby Kersee is the coach who helped McLaughlin-Levrone become the greatest women’s hurdler of all time and may accomplish the same in the 400. The program included brutal training sessions with Willington Wright, a former quarter-miler at UCLA.
“I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this,” Kersee told The Associated Press. “She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She’s just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about.”
“I think, now, 47 tells her that she can break 50,” Kersee said. “Knowing her, she’s probably going back to the hurdles and try to take what she learned now in the quarter[-mile] and try to execute a plan to run 49.99 or better.”
It was McLaughlin-Levrone’s 19th consecutive victory in a one-lap competition, including hurdles and flat, since June 2023.
“I knew it was going to be a battle down the homestretch, and it was just really about focusing on my lane and kind of trying to stay as relaxed as possible,” she said.
In 2023, McLaughlin-Levrone competed in the 400 flat, but her attempt to win a world championship was cut short by injury. She returned to the flat for 2025 after concentrating on hurdles the previous year to win her second Olympic gold medal in the event.
When she ran 48.29 in the semifinal on Tuesday, she broke a 19-year-old American record and said she still felt she had “something left in the tank.”
“Today was a really great race for track and field, and I’m grateful to put myself in position to bring an exciting event to our sport,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after making history on Thursday.
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