Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone ( mə-GLOK-lin ləv-ROH-nee; née McLaughlin; born August 7, 1999) is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles and is the world record holder in that event. She has won gold in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as the 2022 World Athletics Championships. She set a world record time of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Summer Olympics on August 8, 2024, breaking her own old world record of 50.65 seconds. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event; setting four world records during 13 months, she 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 four competitions, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.
As a 15-year-old, McLaughlin was the 2015 World youth champion. In 2016, she was the youngest athlete since Denean Howard in 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, then also the 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. Aside from McLaughlin-Levrone, only three other women have ever broken the 52 second barrier, and only one other has broken 51. She holds six out of the ten fastest times on the world all-time list. She was the 2019 Diamond League champion.
In 2022, McLaughlin-Levrone was voted World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year.
Early life and background
Sydney McLaughlin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on August 7, 1999. She grew up in Dunellen, New Jersey.
Her parents are Willie McLaughlin and Mary Neumeister McLaughlin. Her father Willie was part of a long line of track & field stars from East Orange High School, in East Orange, New Jersey. He is a member of the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-time All-American. He was a semi-finalist in the 400 meters at the 1984 Olympic Trials. Her mother Mary was a 2:12 half-miler at Cardinal O'Hara High School in Tonawanda, New York, where she ran on the boys' team. Her parents met as students at Manhattan College; there was no women's track team when Mary arrived in 1979, so she became the manager of the men's track team.
In addition to being successful academically, Sydney took up running at an early age, following brother Taylor and their older sister Morgan. When she was 14, her father said, "All of our kids are fairly talented, but [Sydney's] a little special. We saw it coming. It was just a matter of time." She is a member of the class of 2017 at Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains, where she was the first two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Track & Field. Her older sister, Morgan, ran for St. Peter's University. Her older brother, Taylor, ran for the University of Michigan, and won silver in the 400 meter hurdles at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships. Her younger brother, Ryan, took after his older siblings as a track stand-out at Union Catholic. He was the fifth member of the family to win a New Jersey county track title.
High school and college career
At the national junior championships in 2014, McLaughlin placed a close second behind Shamier Little in the 400-meter hurdles; her time of 55.63 s was a national high school freshman record and a world age-14 best. She would have qualified to represent the United States at the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships, but was a year too young to be eligible. McLaughlin also set a world age group best of 13.34 s in the 100-meter hurdles over 76.2 cm (2 ft 6.0 in) hurdles that summer.
In 2015, she improved her 400-meter hurdles best to 55.28 s at the national youth trials; the time was an age 15 world best, and ranked second on the all-time world youth list behind Leslie Maxie's world youth best (and national high school record) of 55.20 s set in 1984. She qualified for the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia, where she won gold in 55.94 s; she finished the year as the world youth and junior leader in the event.
2016
McLaughlin won the 400-meter hurdles in 54.46 s at the New Balance national outdoor high school championships; the time broke Maxie's prep record and world youth best, as well as Lashinda Demus's American junior record of 54.70 s. In addition, she ran on Union Catholic's team in the Swedish medley relay, running a fast 50.93 s split for 400 meters as the team set a new high school record of 2:07.99. She won the USATF junior championship in 54.54 s the following week; in recognition of her accomplishments, she was named Gatorade National Girls Athlete of the Year.
McLaughlin placed third in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.15 s at the US Olympic Trials , setting a new world youth best and world junior record and qualifying for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro before her senior year in high school. She was the youngest athlete to make the American Olympic track and field team since Carol Lewis and Denean Howard qualified for the boycotted Moscow Olympics in 1980. At the Games, she placed fifth in her semi-final heat, failing to advance to the finals.
2017
She was part of an American record setting quartet that broke the indoor distance medley relay world record with a time of 10:40.31, set at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on January 28 at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center. The splits for the four legs were: 3:18.40 (1200 m) by Emma Coburn, 52.32 (400 m) by McLaughlin, 2:01.92 (800 m) by Brenda Martinez, and 4:27.66 (1600 m) by Jenny Simpson. Later that indoor season on March 12, McLaughlin lowered her own national 400-meter record to a 51.61 s at the New Balance Nationals in New York City.
In April, McLaughlin opened her outdoor season by breaking the 300 m hurdles national high school record at the Arcadia Invitational, running 38.90 s. The record was previously held by Lashinda Demus who achieved 39.98 s in 2001. The record was the first ever attempt over 300 m hurdles for McLaughlin as high school track meets in New Jersey do not contest the 300 m hurdles. Her time was a North American record and number 2 all-time worldwide behind Zuzana Hejnová who ran 38.16 in 2013. Later that month, McLaughlin ran the fastest ever high school girls relay split (400 m) during the Championship of America high school girls 4 × 400 at the 123rd Penn Relays. After taking the baton at the back of an eight-team field, she posted a split of 50.37 s, passing five teams to lead her Union Catholic relay team to a third-place finish in 3:38.92. McLaughlin bettered this mark at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Meet on June 18. Taking the baton in sixth place on the final handoff, she passed five runners to lead Union Catholic to victory, posting a split of 49.85 seconds.
McLaughlin was named the Gatorade National Female Athlete of the Year in 2015–16 and 2016–17. She was the first athlete to repeat in the then-15-year history of the award. At the age of 17, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated when she won the award the second time in July 2017 and the magazine said she "ranks as one of the most dominant high school athletes ever."
University of Kentucky
In November 2016, McLaughlin signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Kentucky and compete for their track and field program.
In March 2018, she set the world junior 400-meter record of 50.36 seconds at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. On May 13, McLaughlin broke the collegiate record in the 400 m hurdles, running 52.75 s to win the event in her first SEC championship appearance.
Professional career
In June 2018, after one year at Kentucky, she forfeited her remaining eligibility to compete in college and turned professional, and signed a sponsorship deal with New Balance in October of the same year. Instead of hiring an agent specializing in athletes, McLaughlin contracted with William Morris Endeavor, a firm that typically represents Hollywood stars.
She is coached by track coach Bob Kersee, whose successes have mainly been with female athletes.
2019
At the World Athletics Championships, held between September 27 and October 6, 2019 in Doha, Qatar, McLaughlin ran the 400 m hurdles in 52.23 s finishing in second place behind Dalilah Muhammad. She won every Diamond League she ran over 400 m hurdles in this year, picking up wins in Oslo, Monaco, and the Diamond League Final in Zürich.
2021
However, in 2021, McLaughlin defeated Muhammad at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, running a 400 m hurdles world record time of 51.90 s. Later, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, McLaughlin bettered her time to 51.46 s to claim the Olympic gold. She later won a second gold as part of the women's 4 × 400 m relay.
2022
In 2022, McLaughlin opened her season at the Penn Relays Carnival, dropping down in distance to the 100 m hurdles, which she won in 12.75 s. In June, she broke her own world record in 400 m hurdles again; running a time of 51.41 s during the USATF Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. A month later at the World Championships, also at Hayward Field, she broke her own world record again with a time of 50.68 s and becoming the first woman to run the 400 m hurdles in under 51-seconds. She also won gold as part of the Women's 4 × 400 m relay, running on the final leg. She ended her season by winning at the Gyulai István Memorial in Szekesfehervar, setting a European all-comers record of 51.68 s.
2023
On June 9, 2023, in her first race running the 400 meters as a professional, McLaughlin-Levrone ran 49.71 s while finishing second to Marileidy Paulino at the Diamond League meet in Paris, France. Later that month, McLaughlin-Levrone ran 49.51 s at the New York Grand Prix. On July 8, 2023, McLaughlin-Levrone produced a world-leading performance of 48.74 s at the USATF Championships in Eugene, Oregon, narrowly missing out on Sanya Richards-Ross's American record of 48.70 s.
On August 11, 2023, she withdrew from the 2023 World Athletics Championships due to a knee injury.
2024
On May 18, McLaughlin-Levrone won the 200 m at the Los Angeles Grand Prix, beating 200 m specialists such as Gabby Thomas and Abby Steiner. At the New York Grand Prix in June, McLaughlin-Levrone competed in her first 400 m race of the season with a then-world-leading time of 48.75 s, just 0.01 s slower than her personal best. Having led the race early on, she powered ahead at 200 metres to beat the second-place finisher, Talitha Diggs, by over two seconds.
In June 2024, McLaughlin-Levrone signed with Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track league for the upcoming 2025 season, in the long hurdles (400 m hurdles / 400 m flat) category.
On June 30, 2024, at the 2024 Olympic Trials, McLaughlin-Levrone would go on to break her own 400 m hurdles world record once more, finishing with a time of 50.65 s and qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics. On August 8, 2024, at the Olympic Games in Paris, McLaughlin-Levrone once again broke her own world record, finishing with a time of 50.37 s and defending her Olympic title. She went on to win another gold as part of the Women's 4 × 400 m relay.
On September 3, 2024, McLaughlin-Levrone was announced to compete in both the 200 m and 400 m in the 2024 Diamond League finals in Brussels, Belgium, on September 13 and 14. However, a day later, Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny said that she was ineligible to compete in the finals, because she hadn't competed in any Diamond League events in the 2024 season, so she hadn't accumulated any points and didn't qualify for a wild card. She went on to compete in the pre-programme events in these distances instead, winning both with times of 22.40 s and 49.11 s.
Personal life
McLaughlin-Levrone is married to Andre Levrone Jr. (born March 9, 1995), who played four seasons at wide receiver for the University of Virginia before graduating in 2018, and who was with three NFL teams before retiring in 2020 without ever playing in a regular-season NFL game. Levrone and McLaughlin announced their engagement on August 25, 2021, at the Four Seasons Resort, Scottsdale. They married at Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison, Virginia on May 5, 2022.
McLaughlin-Levrone is a Christian. She and her husband are part of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, and Andre is enrolled at The Master's Seminary, which is affiliated with the church.
Her hometown of Dunellen, New Jersey, named the track at the town's Columbia Park for McLaughlin on August 28, 2021.
On January 30, 2024, McLaughlin-Levrone released Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, an autobiographical book recounting her life and experiences from the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials through the 2023 outdoor season. McLauglin-Levrone's book focuses on her running career, while showcasing her journey to become closer to God. Her goal in writing this book was to not only share her personal journey, but also encourage others to do the same.
Personal bests
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
400 m hurdles progression
400 m progression
Competition results
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
International championships
Circuit performances
Wins and titles
- Diamond League 400 m hurdles champion: 2019
- 2019 (3) (400 mH): Oslo Bislett Games, Monaco Herculis, Zürich Weltklasse
National championships
Awards
- World Athletics Awards
- Rising Star (Women)：2018
- World Athlete of the Year (Women)：2022
- Women’s Track Athlete of the Year：2024
- Night of Legends Award
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee Female Athlete of the Year：2021, 2022
- Most Dominant Performer Wing Award：2024
Notes
References
External links
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at World Athletics
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at www.USATF.org
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at Olympics.com
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at Olympedia
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at Team USA (archive May 7, 2023)
