EUGENE, Ore. — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone knelt a few steps past the Hayward Field finish line, her eyes trained on the video board and her right hand covering her mouth in shock.
The time she saw next to her name confirmed that she had just lowered her world record in the 400-meter hurdles for the fifth time since June 2021.
“I was just like, ‘There’s no way,’” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that time.”
McLaughlin-Levrone continued her assault against preconceived notions of what is achievable in her signature race, pulling away from eight of America’s fastest 400-meter hurdlers at the U.