Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has once again set a new world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the US Olympic Trials, clocking 50.65 seconds. This marks her fifth time breaking the record and earning a spot on the US team for the Paris Olympics. In lane five, McLaughlin-Levrone led the race by the 250-meter mark and finished nearly two seconds ahead of second place finisher Anna Cockrell.
After her victory, McLaughlin-Levrone expressed her disbelief at her time and noted that she still feels there is more room for improvement. Despite only racing once this year before trials, she easily made her way through heats leading up to the final. She is considered a strong favorite to defend her title from three years ago at the Paris Olympics.
In an interview following her victory, McLaughlin-Levrone shared that she has always been striving to break the 50-second barrier in the 400m hurdles and is constantly working to improve her race. She now holds seven of the top ten fastest times in history over this distance, with four of those records set at Hayward Field.
In men’s event, Rai Benjamin set a trials record of 46.46 in the 400 meter hurdles, aiming to upgrade his silver medal from Tokyo games to gold medal at Paris games . CJ Allen and Trevor Bassitt also qualified for US team with their second and third place finish respectively