Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone sees new challenge in race without hurdles

NEW YORK — When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone crossed the finish line at last year's world championships, it seemed like there was nothing left for her to accomplish, at least in her signature event.

At 22 years old, she had just added a world title in the 400-meter hurdles to the Olympic gold medal she earned the year before. She had dusted the rest of the world's best, winning the final by an eye-popping 1.5 seconds. And she had shattered her own world record for a third time in a year.

So in 2023, McLaughlin-Levrone decided to take on a different challenge − running the same distance, sans hurdles.

It's a fascinating move for one of track and field's biggest American superstars, opening up the possibility that she could chase gold medals in both the 400 and the 400 hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics next summer − and perhaps threaten the world record in the former, which has stood since 1985.

First, though, is the U.S. outdoor national championships in Eugene, Oregon, which start Thursday.

"I'm just trying to see where my flat speed’s at, comparatively, and trying something new, trying something fun, in a year where it’s not the Olympics yet," McLaughlin-Levrone told Paste BN Sports in an interview late last month, ahead of the NYC Grand Prix.

"We're trying to figure out ahead of time what we want to do. It may still be this year that I go back to the hurdles. It may be next year. I don’t know."

The top-three finishers at nationals this weekend will automatically qualify for the world championships later this summer in Budapest, where McLaughlin-Levone already has a guaranteed spot in the 400 hurdles by virtue of last year's win. Her first-round race at Hayward Field on Thursday will be just her fifth time running the individual 400 since she turned pro in 2018.

It seems like the flat 400 would be the easier of the two events. What's one lap around the track when you don't even have to clear 10 barriers along the way?

But McLaughlin-Levrone, now 23, disagrees. She notes that hurdlers are able to lean on a step pattern, knowing that the cadence they follow will likely carry them to a certain finishing time. In the regular 400, there's more strategy − and, critically, room for error.

"Personally, I think the flat 400 is harder," McLaughlin-Levrone said. "The hurdles distract me from the fact that I’m running. When I don’t have anything in front of me, I feel all of the lactic (acid) a little bit more."

There had long been scuttlebutt in the track and field community about McLaughlin-Levrone switching events, perhaps as a precursor to a pursuit of the 400-meter world record, which is 47.60 seconds.

While the 400 hurdles record has fallen several times in recent years, thanks in large part to McLaughlin-Levrone, the 400 flat record set by German sprinter Marita Koch has proven untouchable. It's been in place for nearly 38 years, and no American has even come within one second of it.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who was something of a track prodigy in high school and an NCAA champion at Kentucky, could be the one to change that. But after running her personal best as a pro, 49.51, at the NYC Grand Prix last month, she quipped: "I've got to break 49 (seconds) first before I can talk about that."

"Is the world record attainable? At some point in the future, I think so," McLaughlin-Levrone added to Paste BN Sports. "When and if we go for that − we haven’t decided − I do think it is humanly and physically possible, yes."

The American record, set by current NBC analyst Sanya Richards-Ross, is 48.70 − and for McLaughlin-Levrone, it might represent the near-term goal. At this point, she said she's simply trying to prove herself as a contender in the event, to even earn the right "to be in a title fight," for lack of a more apt metaphor. The talk about doubling up on Olympic medals next summer can wait.

And the 400 hurdles, she added, will always be there for her.

"I think right now, it’s just kind of working on that flat speed, figuring out what does it take to really run a fast 400 and then being able to (incorporate) that back into the hurdles," she said. "They’re kind of − interchangeable isn’t the word, but very compatible in certain ways."

A reporter asked if she feels that, after running six of the seven fastest times in the history of the 400 hurdles, she has already accomplished everything she could and wanted to in that event.

"No," McLaughlin-Levrone said. "I don’t think I have."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.