American athlete runs second-fastest 400m ever

The first woman in 40 years to run under 48 seconds in the 400 meters, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, came within a few hundredths of a second of the famous world record in the event at the Tokyo World Championships.

A two-time Olympic champion (2021, 2024), world champion (2022), and world record holder in the 400 meters hurdles (50.37), the 26-year-old American "made history" on the evening of September 18, 2025, covering the 400 meters in 47.78 seconds. This is the second-best performance of all time, just under the 47.60 of the legendary East German Marita Koch, CE Report quotes ANA-MPA.

“She is the best athlete in the history of track and field,” AFP quoted the coach of Dutch athlete Femke Bol—McLaughlin’s main rival in the 400 meters hurdles—Laurent Meuly, comparing her performance to that of another athletics legend, Cuban Alberto Juantorena, who won gold in both the 400m and 800m at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

In her nearly perfect race, “SML” finished just 0.18 seconds short of Marita Koch’s world record (47.60 in 1985), long considered unbreakable.

“I knew I could do it and run fast. It was just a matter of time,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after the finish.

The record set by Koch, representing the former GDR, has been surrounded by doping suspicions. Until Thursday evening, no woman had come within half a second of it (48.14 by Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain in 2019, who was later banned for doping between 2021 and 2023).

The challenge was nevertheless significant, as the American, who rarely competes during the season, faced two of the best athletes in the event in the Tokyo final: Olympic champion from the Dominican Republic, Marileidy Paulino (2nd with 47.98) and Salwa Eid Naser (3rd with 48.19).

“She had never faced these two opponents this season. This is one of McLaughlin’s great advantages—to always be so strong with very few races, to put everything in place so that everything goes smoothly at the right moment,” Meuly added.

The American runner appears to have room for further improvement. On Thursday, she made the difference only in the last 100 meters, which suggests she could be even faster if she pushed harder in the first part of the race.

“She has to prepare more races. But this is unlikely to change with her, because she doesn’t like to travel a lot to compete here and there. And as long as she continues like this, I don’t expect her plans to change in the coming years,” Meuly said.

In 2025, Levrone, who trains in Los Angeles under Bob Kersee, enjoys a variety of workouts, participating in Grand Slam Track events, a new track, as well as events she is less familiar with, such as flat 400 meters, 100 meters, and 100 meters hurdles.

“We will have to discuss the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” said “SML,” adding: “Maybe I can compete in both the 400 meters and 400 meters hurdles, but I will need a few days of rest between the two events,” something that did not happen at the 2024 Olympics.

A possible double gold in the 400m and 400m hurdles at the Olympics would be unprecedented and very challenging, especially since she would need to race six times in eight days.

“Preparing for both and hoping to achieve this level of time in both seems complicated. If it goes in the direction of trying for this ‘double’ in Los Angeles, it probably won’t be for world records but… just to win the gold medal,” Meuly predicts.