"Can't do that unless you have good competitors"- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone gets honest on pushing herself on track before World Championships

American track athlete Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has made her feelings known about pushing herself on the track for the upcoming 2025 World Championships. Notably, the reigning 400m hurdles Olympic champion is set to face some new tough competitors in Tokyo, where she will take the field for the 400m event.

Over the years, McLaughlin-Levrone has faced several tough opponents, be it in the 400m hurdles event, where her main competitors were Dalilah Muhammed and Femke Bol, or in the upcoming Tokyo event, where Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid Naser are slated to come up against her. She recently shed light on the contribution of her competitors to her performance in the races.

Speaking in an interview, McLaughlin-Levrone expressed her happiness to put a gear performance at the Worlds in Tokyo and push her opponents. Additionally, she also mentioned that her competitors push her a lot to improve on the track and help her achieve great run times. She said (via Athletics Weekly):

"I really feel like this year that I've learned so much, and I'm excited to really put it all together in Tokyo and see what that can bring me. But everyone's getting faster and I think we're all pushing each other towards truly running times that we haven't seen in a long time, or we've never seen before, and I think that's the whole point – competing with the best of the best and continuing to push the bounds of what's possible. And you can't do that unless you have really good competitors around you."

Further speaking in the interview, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about the world record of 47.60 seconds set by Marita Koch in 1985 and said that before achieving this feat, athletes must clock under 48 seconds first.

---

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opens up about her experiences of Tokyo in the past

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Image via: Getty)

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about her experiences in Tokyo from the delayed 2020 Olympics. Speaking in an interview with the Olympics, the reigning 400m hurdles Olympic champion revealed that there will be contrasts between the Olympics that year and the upcoming Worlds.

She said that the stadium was very beautiful and the track was quite fast, but with no fans during the Olympics that year, the event was a bit odd. She said (5:03 onwards):

"Being in Tokyo in 2020 for the Olympics was a completely different situation than we will see this year but I just remember a beautiful stadium, a fast track but no fans and so it felt very quiet and a little bit odd."

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone also said that she was looking to compete at the stadium in Tokyo this year which will be filled with the fans.