“I wanted to win in such a way that I could retire from 400m hurdles” – When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone explained why she wanted to switch events
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once revealed that she wanted to retire from the 400m hurdles at the end of the 2022 season and shift to another event. While the American shattered the world record at the end of the season and moved to 400m in 2023, she returned to the hurdles in the 2024 season.
McLaughlin-Levrone is one of the most versatile athletes in the world. The 25-year-old is significantly good in 60m, 60m hurdles, 100m, 100m hurdles, 200m, 400m, and long jump, in addition to her 400m hurdles. While she ran the 200m and 400m only twice in 2024, she was the eighth and fourth fastest runner of the season in respective events.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist was also a regular in long jumps during her early career and boasts a personal best of 6.29m. She has previously expressed the desire to try the event again in her career.
During the 2022 season, Mclaughlin-Levrone wanted to retire entirely from the 400m hurdles. Explaining her reasons in her 2024 memoir ‘Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith’, she wrote:
“Everything in me wanted to win that race, and everything in me wanted to do it in such a way that I could retire from the hurdles. Don’t get me wrong; I truly believe I was made for the hurdles, but the tension that your body undergoes training for that event had pushed me to my limits.”
However, she set a condition for herself, putting the 400m hurdles out of reach.
“I prayed that if I ran fast enough, and put the record far out of reach, I would be content moving to another event. I could find another obsession on the track, a new goal to dedicate myself to,” Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone said.
“I was determined to make the summer of 2022 the end of one chapter and the start of another. But I knew I couldn’t do that if there was unfinished business at the end of the season. I needed to win the World Championships. And I absolutely had to set a new world record. Just breaking it wasn’t enough. I had to shatter it. Put a number up there that would stand the test of time.”
Can Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s 400m hurdles world record stand the test of time?
While Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone did shatter the world record in at the 2022 World Championships, taking over three-fourths of a second off her previous one, she has broken that mark twice herself since.
The 25-year-old did switch to 400m for the 2023 season, which ended prematurely due to an injury, she returned to hurdles in 2024 and ran 50.65s at the Olympic Trials. She bettered the mark again at the Paris Olympics, running a blazing 50.37s to win the gold.
While Mclaughlin-Levrone was the only one to breach the 51-second mark in 400m hurdles, Netherlands’ Femke Bol recently joined the list, clocking 50.95s. A world record that was looking out of reach suddenly faced a threat, and while the American hurdler did create more gaps following Bol’s run, she would surely not be content with the fact that her 50.68s, 2022 record, or 50.37s, 2024 record is unreachable.
