The women’s 400-meter hurdles final on Wednesday morning in Tokyo is one of the marquee events of the track and field meet. Two Americans, Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin, are renewing their rivalry with an Olympic gold at stake.
At the U.S. trials in June, McLaughlin broke Muhammad’s world record to finish first. But Muhammad is still the defending Olympic and world champion, and her mechanics are pure artistry.
McLaughlin finished in 51.90 seconds at the trials, becoming the first woman to run the race in less than 52 seconds. Muhammad, who had finished second in 52.42 seconds, ran to her to celebrate.
McLaughlin, 21, was still in high school when she qualified to compete at the 2016 Olympics, and was celebrated as a prodigy on the rise. In Rio de Janeiro, she advanced to the semifinals before she was eliminated at age 17. Now, she is the favorite in an event that is packed with talent.
Muhammad, 31, has faced some challenges since breaking her own world record — and outracing McLaughlin — at the 2019 world championships. She was hampered by hamstring injuries and said she tested positive with Covid in February.
“That definitely impacted my training,” she said in June. “But I kind of got my fitness back right when I needed to.”
Coming off the final hurdle, Sydney McLaughlin charged past reigning Olympic champion and fellow American Dalilah Muhammad to win gold in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 51.46 and lowered her own world record by .44 seconds.
🚨 #TEAMUSA WOMEN GO 1 & 2 IN THE 400M HURDLES FINAL 🚨
Sydney McLaughlin: 51.46 🥇
Dalilah Muhammad: 51.58 🥈@GoSydGo SETS A NEW WORLD RECORD!!! 💨💨(via @NBCOlympics) pic.twitter.com/No3RNv8hzW
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 4, 2021
“I saw Dalilah ahead of me with one to go,” McLaughlin said after the race. “I just thought ‘Run your race’. “The race doesn’t really start till hurdle seven and I just wanted to go out there and give it everything I had.”
Muhammad, who got out hard in the race and led through a majority of the race, took second in 51.58 and got under the previous world record of 51.90 that McLaughlin took from her at the U.S. Olympic Trials. 21-year-old Dutch star Femke Bol ran a personal best of 52.03 for a new European record and bronze.
McLaughlin is just three years into her professional career and Wednesday morning’s final easily makes her one of the greatest hurdlers in American history.
