Personal Disturbances Led to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Mental Health Decline Ahead of 2022 World Championship
Is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone the greatest hurdler of all time, or is her reign just beginning?
There seems to be no one as dominant in track right now as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Having broken the world record six times in the 400-meter hurdles, Sydney could arguably be considered the greatest in her category.
Most recently, she set a new record at the Paris Olympics, running a time of 50.37 seconds.
This solidifies her status as one of the best athletes in the world right now. However, this doesn’t mean she is without her own struggles.
In her book Far from Gold, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone talked about her struggles before the 2022 World Championship. In December 2021, the track star had to put in significant effort to relearn the basics, as she hadn’t raced since the end of the Tokyo Olympics and had been relatively inactive in competition.
Her coach, Bobby Kersee, emphasized the motto “the best way to learn is to do.” He also aimed to help Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone rebuild her strength and conditioning.
Thus, training was very hard for the hurdler. “I was pushed to my limits each day of training; racing at the highest level felt like just another day on the track. Surviving a practice with Bobby meant I could survive anything,” wrote the hurdler. By April, Sydney felt that she was back to her best and could compete again.
However, suddenly she felt that something was not right with her hamstring.
She decided to stop training for a few weeks, but it didn’t seem to recover. This disturbed the hurdler a lot, as she could only recall what had happened to her brother, Taylor McLaughlin.
A perennial All-American at the University of Michigan, Taylor was destined for greatness in the men’s 400m hurdles. He was all set to compete in the Tokyo Olympic trials. However, a week before the event, he aggravated a previously existing hamstring issue.
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This proved disastrous for him, as it kept him from making the trip to Japan. The injury weighed heavily on Taylor, jeopardizing his childhood dream of pursuing a track career. It took him two years to fully recover, but he has yet to showcase the promise he displayed in college.
This made Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone nervous about her situation.
However, after examining her, doctors discovered that she had only a minor strain. It was not a hamstring injury that was bothering her; instead, it was an entrapment of the sciatic nerve in her leg that kept her from reaching her peak. The only treatment required was rest. Thus, despite the season being in full swing in April of the same year, Sydney decided to take some time off from training. Her decision proved to be successful.
She recovered from her injury and broke the world record twice that year: first during the USATF Championships with a time of 51.41 seconds, and again at the World Championships, where she ran 50.68 seconds to become the world champion. Thus, despite facing challenges, 2022 became one of the best years of her career. But, one more thing was driving her forward.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s uncle believed she would become the best
Back in 2021, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400m hurdle world record for the first time ever in her career. This was during the Olympic trials, where she finished with a time of 51.90 seconds. However, while she was celebrating this big achievement, one of her biggest supporters wasn’t present in the stands. It was her Uncle Russ. A few months before his niece made her Olympics debut in Tokyo, he passed away from a disease.
In the book of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, she stipulated that Uncle Russ is her father’s younger brother. He had complete belief that the hurdler will eventually become the best person in the world. In return, Uncle Russ would criticize her and give her guidelines after every race that had taken place, which meant he was quite a huge inspiration to Sydney. Interestingly, things would start playing out in 2018 when the hurdler recorded the college 400m record at a time of 52.75 seconds.
It led her uncle to predict that she would become the best in the world. He would be long gone by the time his prophecy came true, as Sydney won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. The hurdler went on to become the towering figure in track and field that she is today; however, her Uncle Russ was never able to witness it.
