Be it over hurdles or on the flat, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone proved once again she is irrepressible over one lap of the track.
The US athlete broke a 42-year-old championship record with the second-fastest 400m of all time at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 to win gold on Thursday night.
But it proved far from the time trial some might have anticipated as Olympic champion Mariledy Paulino made her rival work for the win. In doing so, for the first time in history two women dipped under 48 seconds in a single 400m race.
When McLaughlin-Levrone made the switch to the flat this season, she talked about stepping out of her comfort zone but she has looked at ease throughout the season in her new event.
And the final was no different. Her time of 47.78 â a North American record â suggests it is now only a matter of time before Marita Kochâs 40-year-old record (47.60) tumbles unless the 26-year-old opts to switch back to the hurdles where she is a two-time Olympic champion.
Starting in lane five, she nervously bounced off one foot to another as she waited to take her marks while her husband Andre, a former NFL player, looked ill at ease watching from the stands.
On a much cooler night in Tokyo after the evening rain broke the humidity of the past few days, McLaughlin-Levrone was quickly up on Amber Anning in the late outside her. And, heading into the home straight, she had the lead and looked set to stretch that advantage to the finishing line.
But Paulino was not to be deterred by her opponentâs reputation as one of the greatest athletes of her generation â arguably in a similar bracket to Mondo Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon, who had shone in their respective events on previous nights in Tokyo.
The Dominican athlete pushed until her last stride but could not claw back the deficit as she herself clocked what is the third quickest time in history. Bahrainâs Salwa Eid Naser, meanwhile, set a seasonâs best with a 48.19 for the bronze.
But McLaughlin-Levrone â racing on the track where she won Olympic gold in the 400m hurdles in 2021 in a world record time â was just too good, having broken Sanya Richards-Rossâs US record on her way to the final before lowering Jarmila Kratochvilovaâs championship best from Helsinki in 1983 by two tenths of a second.
The question now is: what lies in store for her in 2026? In the long term, her eyes are on a home Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. She has previously made it clear she might yet return to hurdling once more with Femke Bol having admitted she missed having her as a benchmark to compete against in the discipline.
McLaughlin-Levrone had made a foray into the 400m flat before back in 2023 but injury prevented her from competing at the World Championships that year. On the evidence of this performance â a fourth world title in a third different event â and the fact another world record is now in touching distance will surely tempt her to stay with her new event.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
