TOKYO — Sydney McLaughlin likes to say that “iron sharpens iron” when it comes to her relationship with Dalilah Muhammad. They are the premier practitioners of their craft, the two fastest women ever to run the 400-meter hurdles.
The thinnest of margins have separated the two Americans, and it was no different as they bore down on the finish line in the final at the Tokyo Games on Wednesday morning. As Muhammad approached the 10th and final hurdle, she had a slight lead. But Muhammad also understood that there was no margin for error, not with McLaughlin three lanes to her left.