"Left me wracked with anxiety"- When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up on a high-pressure expectation that overwhelmed her

American track athlete Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once opened up about the immense expectations put on her shoulders by her coach. This occurred during her collegiate years, when she competed for the University of Kentucky.

Edrick Floreal, who was McLaughlin-Levrone and the University of Kentucky's coach then, had a unique relationship with the latter. Floreal is also one of the most important personalities in McLaughlin-Levrone's track career, who helped her break her mental barriers by pushing her limits on the track.

Recounting an incident, the 25-year-old shared that Floreal had immense expectations from her and had thrown tough challenges, such as running 400m hurdles in 52 seconds and 400m in under 50 seconds. She also mentioned that this challenged her mentally. She said (via her book, Far Beyond Gold):

"One Saturday, coach called me around 7 or 8 pm to tell me that I had to “get it together,” that I needed to reach 52 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles and less than 50 seconds in the open 400-meters, to lead our team to a national championship. Never mind that no one had ever run some of those times at the collegiate level. It left me wracked with anxiety."

Speaking in her book, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone also added that she had thought of moving to the University of Texas, where Edrick Floreal had moved from, as the latter's process helped her a lot in getting better.

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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opens up about her participation at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Image via: Getty)

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recently shed light on participating in the 2025 Prefontaine Classic, scheduled to be held next month. This will be McLaughlin-Levrone's first Diamond League event of this 2025 track season.

In a statement, the 400m hurdles Olympic champion expressed excitement at participating in the event. McLaughlin-Levrone also mentioned that she is eager to compete against the best athletes during this competition in Eugene. She said (via Flotrack):

"I'm excited to participate in this year's Prefontaine Classic, which holds a special place in the heart of track and field. I'm looking forward to competing against an incredible field of athletes and can't wait to see everyone in Eugene."

Notably, this Prefontaine Classic will also be her first official DL race after the 2023 Paris DL meet, where she finished second in the 400m dash. Last year, too, McLaughlin-Levrone raced in the promotional 200m and 400m events during the Diamond League finals in Brussels, but these were not official races. So far in this season, McLaughlin-Levrone has been unbeaten in both the 400m hurdles and 400m dash.