Sydney McLaughlin Annihilated Her Own World Record In The 400-Meter Hurdles

Sydney McLaughlin has once again set the record in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin, the 22-year-old American and reigning Olympic gold medalist in the event, broke the record for the fourth time in the last 13 months with her performance on Friday night at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, throwing down a preposterous 50.68 to leave the rest of the field in her dust.

The New Jersey native’s best time — and, by extension, the fastest anyone has ever won the race — came last month when she ran the race in 51.41 seconds at the U.S. championships. This time around, McLaughlin put on an even better performance.

The competitor who came in second, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, ran the race in 52.27, while McLaughlin’s fellow American, Dalilah Muhammad, picked up the bronze with a time of 53.13. Muhammad held the world record prior to McLaughlin beating it for the first time when she ran the race in 52.16 back in 2019.

McLaughlin’s performance was the 19th fasted 400-meter time in the world this year, with the 18 times ahead of her all coming in races that did not include hurdles. Perhaps McLaughlin will compete in the 400 meters sooner rather than later — NBC Sports noted that McLaughlin’s coach recently indicated that she will start running that race sometime in the future.