WATCH: Former Kentucky star Sydney McLaughlin shatters world record in 400-meter hurdles at World Athletics Championships
Former Kentucky track and field star Sydney McLaughlin dominated the 400-meter hurdles at the World Athletics Championships on Friday night in Eugene, Oregon. The end result was never in doubt as McLaughlin coasted to an easy victory, clocking a time of 50.68 seconds — setting a new world record and breaking the old record she set last month. She became the first female athlete to post a time of under 51 seconds in the event.
Check out the historic feat here.
McLaughlin’s previous world record in the event was 51.41 seconds. She set that at the 2022 U.S. Track and Field Championships in June. The former Kentucky star already won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and she once again added yet another gold medal to her trophy case on Friday night.
Femke Bol from the Netherlands finished second with a time of 52.27 seconds, but she never really challenged McLaughlin much at all in the later parts of the race. One of McLaughlin’s coaches since 2020 has been Bob Kersee — the husband of one of the most famous track and field athletes of all-time —Jackie Joyner Kersee.
She starred for the Kentucky Wildcats in college — setting the world junior 400-meter record (50.36 seconds) at the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. That was in March of 2018 and in May of that same year, she shattered the Kentucky and NCAA record in the 400-meter hurdles, blazing her way to a time of 52.75. McLaughlin won the SEC Championship in her first appearance.
The 400-meter hurdles has long been her best event and she’s been the best in the world at it for quite some time. At the age of 17-years old, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in July of 2017 and the magazine called her “one of the most dominant high school athletes ever.”
The New Jersey native qualified for the 2016 Olympics at the age of 16 years old. She’s a rare phenom in the sport that displayed incredible potential at an early age and has lived up to it. Now, at 22 years old, she’s now a two-time Olympian and the defending gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles. After Friday night, she’ll have one more impressive accomplishment to add to her lengthy list of accolades — gold medalist for the World Athletics Championships.