McLaughlin-Levrone dazzles in historic 400m win

TOKYO -- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack 48 seconds in the 400 meters, running 47.78 in a historically fast one-lap race at the world championships Thursday.

Pushed by second-place finisher Marileidy Paulino, who clocked a 47.98 of her own on the rain-slickened track in Tokyo, McLaughlin-Levrone captured her first global title in the 400 flat after dominating the hurdles for the past four years.

The second- and third-fastest times in history in this race trail only the 47.60 by East Germany's Marita Koch, set Oct. 6, 1985 -- one of the last remaining vestiges in track from an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed years after it ended.

Third-place finisher Salwa Eid Naser clocked 48.19, a time that would have won the past two world championships. Nobody had come within a half-second of Koch's mark until this race.

"You don't run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it," McLaughlin-Levrone said.

When she crossed the line, McLaughlin-Levrone looked over to the clock then put her hands on her head in apparent shock.

In the lead-up to the worlds, she insisted the women needed to think about breaking 48 before they go after what was once thought to be an unapproachable world record.

Now, that record is on shaky footing. A lot will depend on what America's most accomplished one-lap sprinter decides to do over the next few years. She has broken the 400 hurdles world record six times, most recently at last year's Olympics, where she lowered it to 50.37 seconds.

Thursday's race was on the same track where McLaughlin-Levrone set her second hurdles world record at the 2021 Olympics. It was a much different scene this time -- with fans in the stands, screaming as she rounded the oval then headed into the home stretch in a tight battle with Paulino that wasn't in the bag until the last 30 meters.

"At the end of the day, this wasn't my title to hold onto, it was mine to gain," McLaughlin-Levrone said. "Bobby uses boxing terms all the time. He said, 'You've got to go out there and take the belt. It's not yours. You've got to go earn it.'"

Bobby is Bobby Kersee, the wizardly coach who helped transform McLaughlin-Levrone into the greatest women's hurdler ever and might be doing the same in the 400. Brutal training sessions with one-time UCLA quarter-miler Willington Wright were part of the regimen.

"I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this," Kersee told The Associated Press. "She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She's just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about."

It was McLaughlin-Levrone's 19th straight victory in a one-lap race -- hurdles and flat -- dating to June 2023.

"I knew it was going to be a battle down the homestretch, and it was just really about focusing on my lane and kind of trying to stay as relaxed as possible," she said.

Paulino, meanwhile, was more focused on her unique place in history than not winning the race.

"I'm thankful for having the opportunity to break 48," she said. "I still feel like a winner. I've spent five years every day training for this."

McLaughlin-Levrone took up the 400 flat in 2023, but injuries derailed her run at a world championship that year. She focused on hurdles last year for her second Olympic gold medal in the event, then came back to the flat for 2025.

When she ran 48.29 in the semifinal, she broke a 19-year-old American record and said she still felt she had "something left in the tank."

Then, with a push from Paulino, she let it loose.

"Today was a really great race for track and field, and I'm grateful to put myself in position to bring an exciting event to our sport," McLaughlin-Levrone said.

It's still an open question as to whether she will stick around in this race long enough to go after Koch's record, or return to the hurdles, where the number "50" hangs out there much like "48" did in the race she won Thursday night.

Nobody had thought much about 50 seconds in hurdles until McLaughlin-Levrone started breaking the record in that event on a semi-regular basis. Four years ago at the Olympics, she lowered it to 51.46 in the empty stadium in Tokyo.

She broke it three more times and then, in Paris last year, took it down by another 0.28 seconds to 50.37.

Over time, those races became mere matters of McLaughlin-Levrone against the clock.

This time, something different -- a bona fide showdown for the gold medal that knocked down a once-unthinkable barrier in racing.

Whatever McLaughlin-Levrone's next move is, it's bound to be fast.

"I think, now, 47 tells her that she can break 50," Kersee said. "Knowing her, she's probably going back to the hurdles and try to take what she learned now in the quarter[-mile] and try to execute a plan to run 49.99 or better."