Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shattered her own world record at the US Olympic Trials by clocking 50.65 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. This marked her fifth time breaking the record and earned her a spot on the US team for the Paris Olympics. Running in lane five, McLaughlin-Levrone led the race by the 250-meter mark and finished nearly two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Anna Cockrell.
After the race, McLaughlin-Levrone expressed her disbelief at her time and noted that she feels there is still more room for improvement. Despite only racing the 400m hurdles once this year before the US trials, she easily made her way through the heats leading up to the final. She is considered a strong favorite to defend her title from three years ago at the Paris Olympics.
McLaughlin-Levrone expressed her desire to break the 50-second barrier at some point in her career and is constantly working to improve her race. She now holds seven of the 10 fastest times in history over the 400m hurdles, with four of her five world records set at Hayward Field.
In contrast, Rai Benjamin set a trials record of 46.46 in men’s event while aiming to upgrade his silver medal win at Tokyo Olympics . CJ Allen and Trevor Bassitt also qualified for US team with their second and third place finishes respectively