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DPAEugene, Oregon (USA)US Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin won her first world championship title and set a stunning new world record in the 400 metre hurdles in Eugene on Friday.The 22-year-old American beat her previous personal best by a full 0.73 seconds, clocking 50.68 seconds at the World Athletics Championships.The silver went to Femke Bol of the Netherlands in 52.27 seconds, while fellow American Dalilah Muhammad took bronze in 53.13 seconds.However, all eyes were on McLaughlin for her win, which gave the World Championships in Eugene its first new world record so far.“It’s unreal,” the 22-year-old said, still sitting on the track.“The time is absolutely amazing and the sport is getting faster and faster. Just figuring out what barriers can be broken. I only get faster from here,” she said afterwards.McLaughlin also noted how different from last year’s Tokyo Olympics the atmosphere in Eugene had been: “It was absolutely unreal to have my family in the stands ... After Tokyo, not having anybody, this was like a redemption.” On top of the $70,000, McLaughlin will receive for her World Championship gold, she will also be awarded a further $100,000 for setting a new world record.McLaughlin is now responsible for five of the top six times ever run in the 400m hurdles. Apart from her, only Muhammad has run the distance in under 52 seconds.It is the third world record that McLaughlin has set at Hayward Field. Her first came at the 2021 US Olympic Trials, when she clocked 51.90 to improve on the 52.16 global mark that Muhammad had achieved when winning the 2019 world title ahead of her compatriot.Just over a month later, McLaughlin ran 51.46 to win the Olympic title in Tokyo, and she broke the record for a third time at this year’s US Championships in Eugene on 25 June, clocking 51.41.Such is the standard, this latest world record time would put McLaughlin 19th on this season’s top list for the 400m flat. Yet the US hurdles star achieved it with 10 barriers in the way.She reached the first of those barriers at roughly the same point as Muhammad made hers, and they remained pretty evenly matched at the second hurdle. But from that point on, the race looked like it would only be going one way.With Muhammad to her right and Bol to her left, McLaughlin caught her compatriot along the back straight and blazed past her heading into the curve. By the time she left the bend, it was McLaughlin against the clock and time seemed to stand still as she surged ever closer.Behind her, Bol drew level and then overtook Muhammad as they entered the home straight, McLaughlin striding away in the distance.The question wasn’t whether McLaughlin was going to break the world record, but by just how much. With the crowd on their feet, the answer soon came as the scoreboard showed 50.68.Since 2019 – in less than three years – the world record has been improved by almost two seconds. That mark of 52.34 had stood for 16 years before Muhammad took it to 52.20 and then 52.16. On 27 June 2021, McLaughlin began her reign.Now that previous world record mark of 52.34 is just 14th on the world all-time list.“The time is absolutely amazing and the sport is getting faster and faster,” McLaughlin said of her latest performance. “Just figuring out what barriers can be broken. I only get faster from here.“I executed the race the way Bobby (Kersee, her coach) wanted me to. I knew coming home that if I just kept my cadence and stayed on stride pattern, we could do it and it happened.“The level in the 400m hurdles is certainly improving. We have a full group of girls that are willing to push our bodies to the next level and we are seeing times drop.” (inputs World Athletics)
