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The 400m hurdles world champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has expressed her disappointment at her unexpected withdrawal from the Monaco Diamond League on Friday.
The 23-year-old’s coach Bobby Kersee and his team have decided to let the athlete recover from a recurring knee injury. Looking at the situation, Sydney communicated her feelings to the fans.
On Friday, July 21, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was supposed to perform at the 400m event. The Monaco Diamond League was one of the championships that the athlete wanted to perform in ahead of the World Athletics Championship in August.
However, due to her knee pain, her coach decided to withdraw her name from the Diamong League circuit as she is just a month away from the big event in Budapest.
Although Sydney has abided by her coach’s decision, she is highly disappointed with the current situation. The athlete expressed her take in an Instagram story.
“I’m super bummed to not be competing this evening in the Monaco diamond league."
She threw more light on the situation:
"After discussion with my coach and doctor, they have decided to pull me due to a recurring knee injury issue."
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone also added in her story:
“My prayer is to get back to 100 percent health before the world championships. I’d like to thank the Monaco diamond league for their hospitality and support. Best of luck to all my competitors. Until next time. - SML."
If Sydney did not back out from the championship, she would have competed against some of the strongest players, like Lieke Klaver, Rhasidat Adeleke, and Natalia Kaczmarek.
Why did Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone decide to focus on 400m flat and not the 400m hurdle?
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is an Olympic gold medalist and also a two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles. However, this year, the athlete and her coach Bobby Kersee decided to raise the bar for themselves and step out of their comfort zone.
Therefore, the duo decided for Sydney to begin competing at the 400m flat event. She explained in an interview with Citus Mag:
“We want to see where we can progress to. We’ve continued to lower my time with each meet that we’ve run, so that’s been amazing. Hopefully, we’ll just continue to do that all the way through worlds and see what happens,” the athlete explained.
Recently, the athlete made her debut at the 400m flat event at the US Track and Field Championship on July 8. She made the most of her first time by winning the race within an impressive time frame of 48.74 seconds that put her at No. 10 on the all-time list.
