American track and field star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record and claimed the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles final Thursday, repeating her win in Tokyo. American Anna Cockrell nabbed the silver in an upset over world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who finished third for the bronze.
McLaughlin-Levrone finished the race in 50.37 seconds, beating out her own previous world record time of 50.65 seconds, which she set back in June at the U.S. Olympic trials. This was the sixth time she had set the world record for the 400-meter hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone went head-to-head with Bol at the 2024 Paris Olympics final — just the third matchup between this generation’s two top female hurdlers. McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning Summer Games champion, has kept breaking the world record, over and over. Bol is the reigning world champ — it probably helped that the American was injured and not there — and already picked up a gold in Paris with a terrific last leg for the Dutch in the 4×400-meter mixed relay on Saturday.
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Until Thursday’s final, McLaughlin-Levrone was 2-0 against Bol, beating her at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, then again at 2022 world championships.
“Iron sharpens iron,” McLaughlin-Levrone said Tuesday night at Stade de France after each woman won her semifinal heat to qualify for the medal race. “It’s always fun racing the best, and I know we’re going to push each other.”