Sydney McLaughlin

About Sydney McLaughlin

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (née McLaughlin, born August 7, 1999) is an American hurdler and sprinter who specialises in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record, and 2022 World champion with the current world record of 50.68 seconds. Setting four world records during 13 months, McLaughlin was the first woman to break the 52-second (June 2021) and 51-second (July 2022) barriers in the 400 m hurdles. She won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. At all three Games, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.

As a 15-year-old, she was the 2015 World youth champion. In 2016, McLaughlin was the youngest athlete since 1980 to qualify for the U.S. Olympic track team, having placed third at the U.S. Olympic Trials, with the current world under-18 best of 54.15 seconds, the then also world U20 record. She holds the current world U20 record of 53.60 seconds, having achieved a junior personal best of 52.75 s (not ratified), with both marks set in 2018. Only one other woman also broke the 52-second barrier and McLaughlin-Levrone is the only one who broke the 51-second barrier, leaving her with nearly one second advantage on the world all-time list. She holds six out of the seven fastest times on this list. She was the 2019 Diamond League champion.