On Friday, 22-year-old McLaughlin beats second-place finisher, Femke Bol of the Netherlands and sets a new world record by 1.59 seconds. For the fourth time in 13 months, McLaughlin ran for 400-meter hurdles at the World Championship in 50.68 seconds by shattering her old mark by 0.73 seconds.
In an absurd amount for a race of this length and a period of time that, prior to McLaughlin, had required 33 years to shorten. Her main opponent, Dalilah Muhammad came third by finishing third in 53.13 seconds. It was one of the must-see events in the track which McLaughlin declared she had run a perfect race.
She said, “I haven’t had a chance to watch it, so I’ll have to do that and go back and talk to my coach. But I think there are always things to improve on. I think we are pushing boundaries of the sport, especially in our event.”
McLaughlin was awarded a $100,000 payment by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe as compensation for breaking the world record after hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and receiving her gold medal. She improved the mark in this, her fourth straight big race.
