McLaughlin's fabulous run

Smashing her own world record again

This woman is unbelievable. The expected giantess duel between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol turned into a one-woman show by probably the most exciting female runner of recent years. McLaughlin-Levrone improved the world record in the 400 meter hurdles for the sixth time to 50.37 seconds.

Even more than the men's 200 meters, the women's 400 meter hurdles took center stage at the Stade de France on Thursday evening. A discipline that is not usually in the spotlight, the fact that it was this time was due to two exceptional runners: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who had already broken the world record on this track five times, and the almost equally fast Femke Bol, who was the second runner this year to stay under 51 seconds.

Everyone was looking forward to the giant duel - especially the Dutch, who sensed a sensation. They had traveled the short distance from their homeland in droves, orange dots were scattered all over the stands in the Stade de France.

And the race delivered what it promised, perhaps not in terms of excitement, but in terms of performance. Because Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone put in one of the most fabulous runs in history. After just two hurdles she was clearly ahead of Bol, and by the final bend she had caught up with the Dutchwoman, who is untouched in Europe over both the hurdles and the flat stadium lap, and pulled away. In 50.37 seconds, she smashed her own world record again by 28 hundredths. Unbelievable!