"Anticipation of this race ate at me"- When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up on pre-race uneasiness ahead of her first World Championships

The elite sprinter, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, once expressed her thoughts on facing pre-race anxiety before her first World Championships in 2019. She further reflected on the intense emotional buildup and anticipation she went through before her first major senior race.

The three-time Olympian, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, has been a dominating presence in track and field. Her excellent performances in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics earned her two gold medals in the 400m hurdles and 4 × 400m relay. She also dominated the 2024 Paris Olympics and clinched two gold medals in the same events.

In January 2024, the track icon released her memoir, 'Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith'. In the book, she disclosed her thoughts on the pre-race uneasiness and emotional buildup she faced before the 2019 World Championships in Doha (page 74). She wrote:

"My training in Doha started a week before my first heat. I was so eager to get back on the track and get through the tension of this meet that the days seemed to stretch on forever. The anticipation of this race ate at me. Other than my training, I hardly did anything. I watched a lot of Netflix. I’d FaceTime friends back in the States, even though it was the middle of the night back home when it was the middle of the day in Doha."

She continued,

"I prayed some, read a little, and waited, struggling with prerace anxiety I hadn’t felt since the 2016 Olympics. My talks with God were brief. I wasn’t sure he even heard me, or if I even believed what I was saying. It was mainly me asking him to let me win and break the record."

At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, McLaughlin-Levrone clinched a silver medal in the 400m hurdles with 52.23 seconds as she finished behind iconic Dalilah Muhammad. She also earned a gold medal in the 4 × 400m relay event in Doha that year.

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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone participates in short-distance races in the Philadelphia Grand Slam Track

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at the Grand Slam Track - Philadelphia - Source: Getty

The New Brunswick, New Jersey native impressively concluded her third slam of the Grand Slam Track in Philadelphia, which was held from May 31 to June 1, 2025.

She participated in the 100m hurdles and 100m, moving beyond her regular race events and registered fifth place in the former event and second place in the 100m, her first professional short-distance race.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has also won two slam titles, in Jamaica and Miami, subsequently winning the total prize money of $200,000. In the Philadelphia Slam, she earned the prize money of $50,000.