SHOW OF FORCE: Sydney displays Olympic form, storms into 400m hurdles crown

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AFP) — Two-time Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion and world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone cruised to victory as the opening leg of the new Grand Slam Track athletics circuit got under way in Jamaica on Friday.

American track star McLaughlin-Levrone — racing in her signature event for the first time since winning gold at the Paris Olympics last year — romped home in 52.76 seconds at Kingston’s National Stadium.

The 25-year-old, who will also race in Sunday’s 400m, was always in control and had opened a significant lead as she came off the final bend before pulling away to finish several meters clear of 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, who was second in 54.59 seconds.

“You know, just shaking the cobwebs off,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after her first race of the year. “The first one always hurts, but I’m happy to be here.”

McLaughlin-Levrone is now in pole position to claim the $100,000 being offered to the athlete with the best combined result from the 400m hurdles and 400m.

The lucrative prize money on offer is one of the notable features of the four-event series, which was conceived by US Olympic legend Michael Johnson with the aim of revitalizing interest in track racing.

The opening action of a series that has been billed as the dawn of a new era for the sport was played out in front of a mostly empty stadium.

In other action on Friday, Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas was a similarly emphatic winner in her specialist race.

The 28-year-old surged home in 22.62 seconds to finish well clear of Marileidy Paulino, the Dominican Republic’s Paris Olympics 400m gold medalist, who clocked 22.96 seconds.

Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith was third in 22.96 seconds.

“It’s really exciting to be here,” Thomas said after her win.

Thomas said the prize money offered by the circuit had created an unusually intense degree of competition for an early season event.

“Normally, these early season meets we’re just practicing and feeling it out,” Thomas said. “Here, the stakes are high, the prize pot is huge and the level of competition is also really high.”

“That’s not something that we’re really used to in our sport and I think it’s really good.”

In the men’s 100m, where Olympic champion Noah Lyles was a notable absentee, two-time Olympic 200m silver medalist Kenny Bednarek took victory in a thrilling duel with Jamaica’s Oblique Seville.

US sprinter Bednarek took the tape in 10.07 seconds, with Seville second in 10.08 seconds. Britain’s Zharnel Hughes was third in 10.13 seconds while the United States’ Fred Kerley, the 2022 world 100m champion, was seventh in 10.30 seconds.