Pinned
Link copied
Track and field is coming down the home stretch at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and on Tuesday night one of the most anticipated final events on the women's side, the 400-meter hurdles, took place. It lived up to the hype.
American Sydney McLaughlin, the favorite to win it all, won gold in her first ever Olympic finals, finishing in 51.46 to dethrone Dalilah Muhammad, who was the defending champion. McLaughlin broke her own world record time in the win. Muhammad finished second at 51.58. Only once before has a woman posted a time under 52 seconds in this event, and both McLaughlin and Muhammad did so in Tuesday's final.
"It was definitely a journey, full of ups and downs," Muhammad said after the race. " ... grateful to earn the silver medal for the U.S.A."
At 21, McLaughlin is the youngest person to ever medal in the event.
McLaughlin and Muhammad have gone head-to-head in the past, including at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. McLaughlin finished first at the Olympic Trials and in the process broke Muhammad's world record with a 51.90-second time. At that point, McLaughlin became the first woman to run that race in 52 seconds or less. She had a semifinal time of 53.03 seconds, which was .27 seconds faster than Muhammad's time.
Team USA had yet to win gold in the women's 200-meter hurdle before Muhammad did so in 2016. With McLaughlin growing into a rising star in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, that medal-winning trend should continue for the Americans for the foreseeable future.
