McLaughlin's 50.68 Was Fast Enough To Place Seventh In 400 Sprint Final

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE — Sydney McLaughlin's capacity for generating moments of awe and wonder has been a trait she has carried with unwavering poise as far back as high school. 

But her race Friday night at Hayward Field, her fourth world record in the span of 13 months, the time that popped up on the clock, a mind-bending 50.68 seconds, was the signature moment of the Oregon22 World Athletics Championships and one of the most spectacular track and field performances of all-time. 

McLaughlin seemed to even stun herself as she sat dazed on the track and contemplated a virtuoso work of art. She broke her own world record by an astounding 0.73 seconds. 

"I took a moment to enjoy what had just taken place," McLaughlin said. "So many times the race goes by and you forget what happens. I really wanted to sit there and soak it all in before getting into the craziness of what follows that."

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McLaughlin's hurdle time would have earned seventh place in the 400-meter sprint final contested 35 minutes earlier. 

The scoring table used to value performances for multi events, such as the decathlon or heptathlon, have long pointed to Florence Griffith-Joyner's sometimes-disputed 100-meter world record (10.49 in 1988) as the greatest performance by a woman in track history, with 1,312 points on the table. McLaughlin's 50.68 is worth 1,310. 

McLaughlin, still 22 years old, is improving. She said she would discuss future plans with her coach Bobby Kersee at the end of the season and the possibility of pursuing goals in other events. 

Bronze medalist and former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad was asked whether she ever considered a time like 50.68 to be possible in the women's 400-meter hurdles. 

"I definitely thought 50 was possible," Muhammad said. "Now, after that race, I think 49 is possible... for Sydney."

McLaughlin's speed through the first 100 meters put her ahead of one of the best fields ever assembled and by 200 meters the race for gold was essentially over unless she hit one of the barriers and fell. 

Femke Bol of The Netherlands beat Muhammad for the silver medal, 52.27 to 53.13. Muhammad, the 2019 champion, equaled fellow American Lashinda Demus and Russia's Yuliya Pechonkina as the most decorated athletes in event history with her fourth career World 400 hurdles medal.

Americans Shamier Little (53.76) and Britton Wilson (54.02) were fourth and fifth. 

In the race that preceded the women's 400 hurdles, Michael Norman gutted out a tough victory in the men's 400 meters, grinding ahead of Grenada legend Kirani James to reach the finish line in 44.29 seconds. 

James earned his third World Championships medal in the event, a silver, in 44.48 seconds. Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith ran 44.66 for the bronze, the first British athlete to make the World 400 podium since 1991. 

"It was an amazing feeling because this is something I've been working for the past three three years, so I couldn't be more happy," Norman said. 

Like McLaughlin, Norman made a splash at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials as a super-talented high school athlete. McLaughlin made her first U.S. team that year at 16 years old, and Norman and Noah Lyles both advanced to the finals of the men's 200 meters, taking fourth and fifth. 

All three are now World champions. 

The U.S. added a silver medal in the women's javelin from 36-year-old veteran Kara Winger and with two days left in the meet has 26 medals (9 gold, 7 silver, 10 bronze), including 11 in the field events and one more in the heptathlon. Winger became the first female athlete in American history to medal in the World javelin final.

In a women's 400-meter final without a U.S. entry, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas dominated the race and won in a world-leading 49.11 seconds. The two-time Olympic gold medalist won her first World title after two previous silvers and a bronze.

Miller-Uibo became the first female athlete in the 400 to win World Under-18, World Under-20, World Indoor, Olympic and global outdoor titles in her career.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic ran 49.60 for the silver medal and Sada Williams gave Barbados its first women's medal by running a national record 49.75 for bronze. 

The U.S. qualified both of its 4x100 relays to the final and posted the fastest times in both the men's and women's prelims with safe baton exchanges. The women ran 41.56 seconds. The men clocked 37.87 with Lyles running on the second leg. 

In the women's 800-meter semifinals, Athing Mu, Ajee' Wilson and Raevyn Rogers all advanced to the final. 

And in the men's pole vault, U.S. champion Chris Nilsen will join world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden and 10 others in Sunday's final after making 18-10.25 (5.75m) in qualifying.