Sydney McLaughlin shaved 0.05s off her own world record – that she ran at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – to win the US Championships 400m hurdles race in 51.41. The win qualified her for the World Championships which will take place at the same Eugene venue. McLaughlin said she was “really grateful” to achieve her new milestone. Meanwhile Michael Norman ran a world-leading time to win the men’s 400m.
Sydney McLaughlin smashed her own 400m hurdles world record at Saturday’s US National Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist McLaughlin – who set her first world mark of 51.46 in the final of those games – took 0.05s off that time to win the event in 51.41.
In so doing, McLaughlin also qualified for the upcoming World Championships at the same Hayward Field venue next month.
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“I was just going to finish the race,” she said afterwards.
“You know anything is possible. I’m just really grateful for it.
“We’re going to represent the USA well, we’re all [her fellow qualifiers Britton Wilson and Shamier Little] going to try to get on the podium.”
In a quick race, Britton came second in a personal best of 53.08 and Little a season’s best of 53.92.
There was another rapid mark set in the men’s 400m event, with Michael Norman posting a world-leading 43.56, knocking four-hundredths off his time run at the same track in May.
Norman finished fifth at the Tokyo Games and didn’t make the final of the 2019 Worlds, so the 24-year-old has redemption on his mind.
He said: “I think I’m in a pretty good place. I know I’m in really good shape. I’m excited to go back and dissect the race and figure out what areas I need to fine tune. I know it was nowhere near a perfect race.
“It does give me a little bit more comfort knowing that I’ve gone through the process [for previous championships] and know what the experience is like.
“I just want a different outcome.”
