Dalilah Muhammad didn’t know if she had won the race, let alone bettered her own world record. She did both.
Muhammad won the marquee head-to-head of the world track and field championships, a 400m hurdles duel with fellow American Sydney McLaughlin that lived up to the hype.
Muhammad clocked 52.16 seconds, taking .04 off her time from the USATF Outdoor Championships on July 28, when she lowered a 15-year-old world record. McLaughlin was right on her tail, going 52.23 to become the second-fastest woman in history.
“I was just looking to see who won the race, and then I noticed when they said world record that I had broke it,” said Muhammad, who added her first world title to her Rio Olympic gold medal.