Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Has a TOUGH Path to 400 Gold After Running 48.90 | USATF 400m Finals Recap

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Has a TOUGH Path to 400 Gold After Running 48.90 | USATF 400m Finals Recap

women’s 400 meters. This proved to be a very interesting race for various different reasons. Of course, specifically in this one race at USA’s, but then also as we look forward to the World Championships later on in September, I feel like this race is going to have a lot of implications um considering what actually unfolded. But before we talk about the results, be sure to tap in Cydius Mag. We have our post race shows. Definitely check out um check that out. Check out everything that we got, you know, on all the socials and everything. We got you all covered. But Sydney ML 48.90 seconds. That’s the third fastest time of her career, but it of course is just short of the American record of 48.70. She had already run 48.74 um in 2023. She already ran 48.75 last year. And she’s been semivocal about wanting that American record. And you can see when she crossed the line, looked over to the clock and she was visibly like like damn like you know she really wanted that record. Afterwards we did speak with her she said that everyone talks about the record and she was a little more humble about it even though in the past she has spoken about wanting the record. I mean I think everyone talks about the American record. Of course that’s that’s that’s going to come when it’s supposed to come. I think this year and this event has taught me patience. I think I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned a lot about the 400. Um, but ultimately every day it’s stepping on the track, being the best I can be, figuring out a race that is very foreign to me, uh, and and taking on new challenges, and being comfortable. But to be clear, she said that she has no interest of actually going for the diamond league title in the 400 hurdles to try and get the wild card to compete in Tokyo. She is solely focused on the 400 meters. Will you do the 400 only in Tokyo or would you consider trying to get the wild card in the hurdles by first? No, we’ll focus just on the 400. Yeah. Uh, you know, I think that’s a a very daunting task in and of itself. It’s a very competitive field. So, I respect those competitors for sure, and I want to make sure I can give my all to to those races. So, that can kind of like hold that down, put that to rest for the time being. But the thing about Sydney is now with this 48.90, another sub 49 second performance. But two things. A, it speaks to how challenging that American record of 48.70 is for any athlete. I think we look at 48.7 or any 48 second performance and I don’t think we truly appreciate how tough running sub 49 seconds is. Sonia Richards Ross ran that 48.7 all the way back in 2006. It still stands as I think the 24th fastest time in the history of the event. Like number 24 all time. And that was back over um almost 20 years ago at this point. So that speaks to how tough it is. We’ve seen Sydney come extremely extremely close. And even myself, I said like, yo, she got it. But it’s a very very tough record to actually get. On top of that, it’s it’s possible that this is going to have I don’t know. I I wonder like the motivation implications because going into the World Championships, she said that she wants to take on a new challenge. She said that she wants to, you know, push herself to a realm that she’s never been before cuz she’s already done everything in the 400 hurdles, but she knows now that she has to face Marita Paulino as well as Sawi Nasser who both have run 48.8 this year in the form of Paulino and Nasser. And then Nasser has run 48.6. She is not going to just going to be able to go to the world championships and just get a gold medal like she has before. Now, she has again spoken about this being a true true challenge. But I’m trying to look at how, man, Sydney is in the conversation for a gold medal. You can never take her out of that conversation because of her talent. But when you look at what Paulino has been able to do, where she’s running 48 seconds throughout the season, she’s winning gold medals. She’s going, you know, generally quote unquote undefeated where, yes, she lost her first race at the top of the year, but she never looked back and has not lost a race since then. Sawi Nasser is able to drop 48 seconds multiple times through a season. It gets tough to say that okay, Sydney is definitely going to get this gold or even that Sydney is going to truly truly challenge Marlene Paulino for or Sawi Nasser for a gold medal. This was a championship setting for Sydney, right? This was a championship setting. Last time in 2023 when she won the title running the 400, she ran 48.7. at the World Championships that year, Paulino ran 48.76 right behind Sydney’s 48.74. So there’s an argument of like, oh, you know, maybe Sydney could have won that gold medal. But now when we’re looking at Paulino Nasser doing oneoff 48 second runs, knowing they do not have a national championships to contend, whereas Sydney, she’s dead set on this national championships, know she not only has to qualify, but also is looking to run a fast time and she runs 48.9. Let me be clear. I’m not dismissing Sydney of, you know, getting that gold medal in any capacity, but I think it just further highlights how tough of a challenge it’s going to be for her to actually get on top of that podium. And I think that is a challenge that she does want. Like she wants to be pushed. She wants to say, “All right, this is not going to be easy. How can I really get myself to go to to another realm to be able to compete with these women?” That is what I think Sydney is looking at, but it’s going to be a challenge. We’ll talk a little bit more about um you know some of the stats cuz this this 400 record is tough. That um American record, forget the world record for the time being, but it’s tough. Now behind her though, interesting story lines to me at least. Isabella Whitaker, she was actually kind of clear in second place running 49.59. I think a lot of people maybe were split on her actually potentially making the team. You know, some people had some other names. Um but, you know, she was able to get a very comfortable uh second place here. Then you had Aaliyah Butler, third place, running 49.91 seconds. And I don’t think this was a performance that many people expected. Aaliyah Butler was running out on lane 9. If you remember from the heats, she actually finished second place in the um behind corner Hayes in her heat. Um but you know, so that gave her a less favorable uh lane in the final. And because of that, you know, she had to really really push in the final meters. And she just edged out Lena Jackson, who was having a very strong kind of first half of the race and really got ran down um in the last uh kind of 50 100 meters. Um who ran and she ran 50.06. But Aaliyah Butler, she got she got her spot here. In her post race interview, she actually spoke about how the long NCAA season has taken a toll on her both physically and mentally. Here’s a clip. So, I was very excited cuz this week it was kind of a little bit hard for me mentally. So just coming in, making top three, going to Tokyo, I was very proud of myself. Can you talk about that? Why has it been a little hard mentally? I don’t know. I guess running for so long and just my body started feeling tired, but I guess it was just my mind telling me anything like kind of like outside is probably getting in that I usually don’t let happen. So yeah. So, I like this openness from Aaliyah where, you know, even though she competed last year in the NCAA, made the Olympic team, this is a much longer season where not only with NCAA’s, she went overseas to compete on the Diamond League, and now USA’s is literally we’re at the top of August. So, it’s a much longer season for her to be able to prepare and be able to make this team. So, we saw that fatigue come in. So, it’ll be interesting to see how she does translate going to the World Championships later on this year. Now, shout out to Lena Herby Jackson. Like I said, she was devastated. 50.06 seconds. Her season has been going amazing. And if she would have run, you know, what she’d been running, you know, in the season, she would have actually made this team running 49.8, but just really, really tough for her. Um, Alexis Holmes, Britain Wilson. Britain Wilson unfortunately uh faded. So, she wasn’t able to get on that team. Also, she was really devastated. Um, and Quer Hayes and Rosie Effon. So, that that’s going to be your women in terms of the 400 going to the world championships and all the women in the relay pool. But, you know, very interesting dynamics. I think a solid top three that many people expected, but is Sydney what I I wonder what your your thoughts on Sydney getting that gold medal at the World Championships are. We’ll we’ll see. But let me just talk about the men’s 400 as well. This one I think was a little surprising in terms of the results overall. But Jacory Patterson, Jakory Patterson, this is why we do predictions. This is why we do predictions. I’m not saying like, oh, I predicted him for the team. I’m saying that I don’t think many people predicted him to win and I don’t think I not I don’t think there was a few people who didn’t even have him on the team because they were like oh you know he’s too up and down oh he ran fast early has you know various different reasons but we are able to have that discussion and then we see the actual results 44.16 seconds justifying and backing up what he’s been doing all throughout the season. He’s going to be going to the World Championships for the first time individually outdoors. We saw him do it indoors this year individually. We saw him do it indoors last year on the relay. Jakori’s getting making that team. I’m waiting for somebody to pinch me. Like I just I don’t know. It’s been like a dream. Like I put in the work. So like I just can’t just give all thanks to the man above my support system. Like they don’t got me. Chris Bailey number two, three, and four were super super close. Chris Bailey, Caleb McCrae, Vernon Norwood 44.43, 44.45, and 44.47. All for the top 2, three, four. Crazy. Chris Bailey on the outside in lane nine. Never gets a strong start, but he’s able to close like a rocket and he absolutely did that here today. Feel pretty good. Um, you know, I mean, I was pretty confident that I would be able to get in the top three. Um, it was going to be difficult to actually win it. Um, so I just came in here with a clear my mind of anything is possible, you know. Um, pretty much all of us in that final have raced each other a lot. Um they’ve beaten me, I’ve beaten them. So, you know, it’s just always been back and forth. So, um wide open event. Um but grateful to make it in that top three. Caleb McCrae running on the inside in lane two. I myself slightly doubted him. Didn’t look as great in the prelims and he ran that 43 seconds, but I wasn’t as, you know, strong on him. I know he had a strong split at the World Relays, but he came away 404.45 four or five seconds just edging out Vernon Norwood for the third spot on the team. Shout out to Caleb McCrae, his first individual team um going to the World Championships. I think I think it it’ll be interesting to see how he does translate this performance and his performances earlier this year, you know, when we get to Tokyo. Also, Vernon Norwood devastating devastating just missing out on a team. This would have been 10 years of him being a professional. He first made he left LSU in 2015, signed with New Balance and he made his first team to the Beijing World Championships that year. Like Vernon award 44.47. He was also, you know, devastated. And it it sucks cuz he is a veteran. He’s on the relay, but like like man, Vernon deserves a medal, man. 2023 he got fourth place at the World Championships. I mean, I I don’t know, man. This was tough. But shout out to Vernon Norwood. Uh Jovova Macyver came in uh fifth place. You have Bryce Deadmond. I obviously I got that prediction wrong. he faded. Um, and then you know, Dearriia Smith, Justin Robinson, they kind of close things out. I’m impressed with this team, though. I’m I’ll be really excited to see how these three guys fare when we get to the Tokyo World Championships. You could say the men’s 400 is going to be very interesting. Quincy Hall could go to the Diamond League and and get a wild card that way. But, you know, of course, you have um who you have Zakit N, he’s been running really really well. You have um Matthew Smith, he’s been running really really well. But, I don’t know. We going to see how things actually do play out on that aspect. But men’s 400, women’s 400, Sydney’s going to have some some issues. I don’t know about issues, but she’s going to have some a tough uh fight on her hands when she does get to Tokyo. And again, she’s not running the 400 meter hurdle. So that whole double situation, I think I already explained that. No need for it. But 400’s be out.

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