World record over 400 m hurdles! Sydney McLaughlin rocked Hayward Field on day eight of the IAAF World Championships in Eugene. The American ran to gold in an outstanding 50.68 seconds. Silver went to Femke Bol from the Netherlands (52.27) ahead of defending champion Dalilah Muhammad (USA/53.13).
Olympic champion McLaughlin wrote athletics history in Eugene on Friday evening (local time) – and it looked easy. With an inimitable hurdle technique, the American outclassed the rest of the field and stayed under 51 seconds as the first woman in history over this distance. With her time of 50.68 seconds, McLaughlin would have finished seventh in the 400m final.
McLaughlin: “It’s unreal”
The 22-year-old undercut her previous record four weeks earlier at the same place by 73 hundredths. “It’s unreal. Glory to God, he got me through this journey and thanks to my family and friends – it takes a whole village to get here,” said the 22-year-old, still sitting on the train. “I just wanted to make it. The last 100 meters hurt.”
$100,000 Extra World Record Bonus
McLaughlin gets a bonus of 70,000 US dollars for World Championship gold and can look forward to a further bonus of 100,000 US dollars for the world record.
She has now set five of the six best times ever recorded in the 400m hurdles. Other than her, only Muhammad ran the distance under 52 seconds when she took Olympic silver behind McLaughlin in Tokyo. The world champion has broken the 52-second mark five times – three times since the beginning of June.