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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once reflected on her personal and competitive growth between her first attempt to qualify for the Olympics at 16 and her return to Eugene five years later for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials.
She shared how, as a teenager, she felt like an impostor and was overwhelmed by fear. However, five years later, it was a completely different scenario for her as she no longer felt uncertain or terrified of competition.
In her memoir Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, released in January 2024, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up about her transformation from a nervous teen battling impostor syndrome to becoming a favorite for qualifying for the Olympic Games, having won medals at prestigious competitions before, including the World Championships in 2019. She stated:
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“When I arrived in Eugene, I couldn’t help but go back five years, to the first time I tried to qualify for the Olympics, a sixteen-year-old girl with a serious case of impostor syndrome. So much had changed since the 2016 US Nationals. I didn’t call my dad before my first race and tell him I didn’t want to run. I wasn’t terrified of the Olympics.”
“Now I’d come to Eugene as one of the favorites not just to qualify but to win. There was even talk of a world record in the final. I was there with one of the greatest coaches in the sport, my family, and my boyfriend. Most importantly of all, I was there as a follower of Jesus. I was racing for his glory, not my own,” she added.
She went on to win the U.S. Olympic Trials with a new world record in the 400m hurdles, clocking a 51.90s time in the finals. The same year, she became the Olympic gold medalist in the distance by breaking the world record at the Tokyo Olympics with a 51.46s run.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone reflects on after winning 400 at USA Championships and qualifying for Worlds
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opened up on her performance after winning the 400m flat finals at the 2025 USA Track and Field Championships. With that, she also advanced to the World Athletics Championships, where she will only be running in the 400m and not her signature event i.e. 400m hurdles. In the post-race interview, the American said (0:02):
“It was good. After yesterday, being able to come back, just get another one under my belt, feel that, you know, that's what you need to feel. That’s where you go back to the drawing board to figure out what you need to work on. But I think two days like that, back to back, is a great feel for me.”
Notably, McLaughlin-Levrone has won a total of four medals at the World Championships, including three golds, one in the 400m hurdles event in 2022 and two in the women’s 4x400m relay event. She also won a silver in the 400m hurdles at the 2019 World Championships, after a narrow loss to Dalilah Muhammad.
