PARIS, France (AFP) — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone produced a world record-breaking performance to become the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic 400m hurdles crowns on Thursday.
The 25-year-old blew away reigning world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands to take the gold medal in 50.37 seconds at the Stade de France.
Anna Cockrell of the United States took silver in 51.87seconds while Bol finished third to claim bronze in 52.15 seconds.
The winning time bettered McLaughlin-Levrone’s own world record of 50.65 seconds set at the US Olympic trials in Eugene in June.
The victory extended McLaughlin-Levrone’s remarkable five-year unbeaten streak in the discipline and cemented her status as the greatest women’s 400m hurdler of all time.
An elated McLaughlin-Levrone said afterwards she had simply focused on the 10 hurdles in front of her — and revealed she was now targeting breaking the 50-second barrier.
“Every race is you against 10 hurdles,” she told reporters.
“Obviously, there’s people next to you that are going to push you, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t focus on the barriers in front of you.”
“So that was my focus — me trying to be as efficient as I could over those 10 hurdles and me trying to lower that time every time.”
“There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this race specifically, rightfully so… But you channel those nerves into excitement.”
Asked if she had run the perfect race, McLaughlin-Levrone replied: “There’s always things you can improve.”