Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone issues a clarification about changing events in her upcoming race

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone revealed that she would switch things up and compete in the short hurdles in the next Grand Slam Track stop in Philadelphia. Over the last weekend, she competed in the 400m hurdles and 400m flat in the Miami stop, winning both and taking the Slam Champion's title home.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was the headliner of the 400m hurdles at the Miami stop from May 2-4, 2025. She won the event in 52.07s, proving her dominance and setting a world lead. She then took the track for the 400m flat, clocking the fastest time of 49.69 and leaving heptathlete Anna Hall two seconds behind.

The 25-year-old capped her Miami campaign with the Grand Slam champion's title for the second time and became $100,000 richer. Following the victorious feats, she sat for a conversation with retired track legend Sanya Richards-Ross, declaring that she would compete in the 100m hurdles in the next GST in Philadelphia, slated to take place from May 30- June 1, 2025.

"As of right now, I think we might go to the short hurdles, switch it up, yeah, test myself, work on some hurdle technique, work on some sprints... 100m."

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McLaughlin-Levrone broke her world record for the sixth time at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She clocked 50.37s to eclipse her previous time of 50.65s. Shortly after, she competed in the invitational races at the Diamond League finals, winning both the 200m and 400m events.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone made her feelings known about her strategies to break the world record again

McLaughlin-Levrone at the Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 14 - (Source: Getty)

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was the first woman to break the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the 400m hurdles, breaking the world record four times in 13 months. Having lowered the time for the sixth time in Paris, the 25-year-old said she would improve hurdle-wise and wait for the right race to break the record.

"There's a lot that can always be changed, I just think it's going to be continuing to improve hurdle-wise, continuing to improve stride pattern-wise, and just putting that perfect race together." (via FloTrack)

McLaughlin-Levrone boasts four Olympic gold medals, two in the 400m hurdles and two in the 4x400m relay events. Her resume also has three golds and a silver from the World Championships.

The 25-year-old received the Women's Track Athlete of the Year honor after her Olympic performances. She was honored with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award for Female Athlete of the Year in 2024.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Agnijeeta Majumder