Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, an American, won a stunning gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles event in Paris, smashing her own world record in the process.
The much-awaited title matchup between McLaughlin-Levrone and Dutch sensation Femke Bol never really happened as the former left her competitors far behind to retain the title in 50.37 seconds.
Bol, the second-fastest woman in the event’s history, faltered to place third in 52.15, trailing only American silver medallist Anna Cockrell’s personal best time of 51.87.
In June, McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record of 50.65, but she saved her best performance for the main event of the sport, where she won her sixth global championship.
McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol have combined to run 17 of the top 20 fastest times ever recorded.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning champion and world record holder, was the favorite going into their most recent meeting. She had hinted at this form by beating her previous best time two months prior.
Though Bol had made her own strides, she was only the second woman to run under 51 seconds over the barriers, having set a new European 400-meter hurdles record in July and a world record for the indoor 400-meter flat this year.
In the mixed 4x400m relay earlier in the Games, Bol produced an incredible sprint finish to move the Netherlands from fourth place to gold. However, this time, the 24-year-old lacked the legs to challenge a jubilant McLaughlin-Levrone.
“My entire family is present. McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned 25 on Wednesday, said, “We’re going to celebrate, we’re going to enjoy this time and get ready for the relay too.”
“It’s amazing to see our sport continue to grow, for people to want to watch the 400m hurdles, it’s amazing.”
She discussed the efforts required to complete her gold mission, stating that this year simply required a great deal of hard work. I anticipated a challenging race. An incredible competition overall.”
In other sports, Arshad Nadeem created history by becoming the first Pakistani athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in the men’s javelin, with a throw of 92.97 meters.
Grant Holloway of the USA defeated fellow countryman Daniel Roberts to win the men’s 110-meter hurdles and improve his Tokyo silver medal, while Tara Davis-Woodhall of the USA triumphed in the women’s long jump.
