Tokyo (AFP) – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is “box office,” according to World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, but so rarely did the American compete until recently that she resembled the late, reclusive Swedish film legend Greta Garbo. The 26-year-old admits she organizes her season around championships, although this year she did take part in the Grand Slam Track meetings. It is hard to argue with her decision to race sparingly when once again she delivered on the global stage on Thursday in Tokyo.
She came so close to erasing one of the oldest records in the books — Marita Koch’s 400 metres mark of 47.60 seconds, set four decades ago in 1985. McLaughlin-Levrone blasted through the rain, clocking 47.78 seconds, easily the second fastest time in history. She already owns the 400 metres hurdles world record, which she bettered most recently in winning her second Olympic title in Paris last year.
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While her great rival in that event, Femke Bol, would race at the drop of a hat, McLaughlin-Levrone, whose first Olympics came when she was just 16 in Rio, is the polar opposite. Her track appearances are rare — and in Europe, they are collector’s items. Her sole Diamond League appearance in between winning her first Olympic title in Tokyo in the Covid-delayed Games in 2021 and retaining it last year was a flat 400m at the Paris Diamond League meeting in 2023. She also rarely gives interviews.
Coe, himself a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500m, acknowledges she is one of the true stars of his sport, but he wishes she would compete more often. “I think she and Bobby (Kersee, her coach) believe firmly in the adage of less is more, which is a bit crazy really,” Coe said on Thursday. “For all sorts of reasons she’s obviously doing the right things and she’s got a seasoned coach. Bobby’s completely quirky; I’ve known him a long time and he is an outstanding coach. They share a tunnel vision about performance. I would love to see her out there a little bit more, but I’ve never interfered with coaches.”
Kersee, who has guided a series of US athletes to titles, told Citiusmag.com last year: “With all due respect to Europe, I like America.” That strategy has worked like a dream so far for McLaughlin-Levrone, and the decision to move to the 400 flat — though she has not turned her back permanently on the hurdles — has proved a masterstroke. Her running style seems so smooth, and McLaughlin-Levrone is so dominant that it comes as some surprise that the devout Christian is a bag of nerves before races.
“I lived a lot of my life in fear,” she told The Athletic. “Fear of not pleasing the Lord, fear of not being loved by people, and I think that’s why I gravitated so strongly towards track and field. I used to get so anxious and so nervous that I would just be throwing up. I would be a mess, honestly. For me, winning was the only option, and it caused things inside that I didn’t know how to handle or deal with.”
Her faith, which she shares with her husband, former NFL footballer Andre Levrone Junior, has been driven by her parents, Willie and Mary. “This is important to us because it dictates how we view the world and how we treat the many people that we encounter along the way,” Willie wrote in Runnerspace.com in 2023.
Her three siblings, sister Morgan and brothers Taylor and Ryan, were decent athletes, but Willie, a talented 400m runner who reached the semi-finals in the 1984 US Olympic trials, saw there was something special about Sydney. “We had had our older daughter and our older son run, and they were very gifted,” Willie told NJ.com in 2016. “Then we saw (Sydney) run at six years old, and we just knew, okay, the other ones are very good, but this one is a little different. It was just obvious.”
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