SPORT Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Singular Brilliance: A 2024 Season to Savor

This past August, in a jam-packed Stade de France, the excellence of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once again outshone each challenger and thrilled every fan as she defended her Olympic crown in the 400-meter hurdles, an event and one she has almost single-handedly redefined. McLaughlin-Levrone simply ran away from her competition, circling the track and clearing ten hurdles in 50.37 seconds, and shattering her own world record for the sixth time.

By the time she rounded the final curve, victory was a foregone conclusion. Her lead was so big that the only competition left was against the clock… in a race that also featured the #2, #4, and #5 fastest athletes of all time. She came within a whisper of breaking 50 seconds, a barrier that many Olympic-caliber athletes struggle to crack even without the hurdles, and one which would have seemed unimaginable even a few years ago.

The race in Paris was not just another victory but a masterpiece on the track in a city known for its fine art. She delivered a performance that immediately took its place in the canonically great races in track and field history, becoming the first woman ever to repeat as Olympic champion in the 400-meter hurdles, a famously difficult and physically taxing event. In total, she already owns eight global medals (seven gold) with many prime years still ahead.

Yet, for all her accomplishments, McLaughlin-Levrone remains something of an enigma, a superstar who carefully curates her appearances, leaving fans yearning for more. She races infrequently but dazzles every time she steps on the track. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that scarcity. In a world addicted to instant gratification, she reminds us that true brilliance is best appreciated when it’s not always there on display, for our consumption.

While McLaughlin-Levrone’s 2024 season was record-breaking, her journey has been historic from the beginning. As a prodigiously talented New Jersey teenager, she burst onto the scene when she qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro at only 16 years old. She turned professional a few years later and since then, she has made the leap from a promising young star into a track-and-field icon, a singular presence in the sport who can fill a stadium and guarantee must-see television just by showing up. In a sport that can struggle to break into the athletic mainstream outside Olympic years, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has become a household name.

She is coached by the legendary Bobby Kersee, known for his guidance of legends like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith-Joyner, and Allyson Felix. Kersee has elevated his protige’s training through a methodical approach: refining on her form via the shorter, more technically demanding 100-meter hurdles, honing her speed and stamina through flat 400-meter work, and only putting the two together for her signature event, the 400-meter hurdles, when she’s in peak preparedness.

The result: when you see McLaughlin-Levrone on the track, you see a star as comfortable in a sprint as she is soaring over hurdles with technical mastery and near superhuman endurance the final straightaway. As a result, she has lowered the world record in the event by nearly two full seconds and became the first woman ever to dip under both 52 and 51 seconds.

Yet, even as she has built a resume that places her among the all-time greats, McLaughlin-Levrone has resisted the pull to overextend herself. She has shown little interest in beating up the competition for a paycheck or padding her schedule to satisfy the public’s hunger for more. Each race is a special occasion—a moment to be relished rather than a day at the office.

As McLaughlin-Levrone’s career progresses, the comparisons to legends from other sports have become almost inevitable. 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone remains uniquely centered and driven; she has never strayed into the controversy or conflict that superstars inevitably attract. Her story is in many ways the template for what we expect out of prodigies. She grew into her potential on her own terms, bore the weight of expectations with poise, and remained unflappably consistent in a sport full of ups and downs.

Because she’s so absurdly dominant in her main event, track and field observers frequently speculate that she could take down world records in others, like the flat 400m. But true to form, if McLaughlin-Levrone and Coach Kersee have a grand plan for new challenges, they’re not sharing it with the world just yet.

What is certain is that her story is far from over. At just 25 years old, she continues to rewrite the record books and redefine what’s possible in her sport. Her generational talent has opened many doors, but her focus, discipline, and drive ensure that she’ll remain a force to be reckoned with for years to come. There’s great beauty in watching potential transform into achievement, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is living proof.