New Jersey native Sydney McLaughlin is the fastest woman ever in the 400 meter hurdles, by a stunning margin.
The 21-year-old McLaughlin was already the second-fastest ever, behind Dalilah Muhammad, the defending Olympic champion.
Muhammad took out Sunday night’s final at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, at a blistering pace, but McLaughlin ran her down in the final 100 meters. She ran 51.90, breaking Muhammad’s mark from 2019 by more than a quarter second — an enormous amount in a sport where progress is often incremental.
With Muhammad in second, the pair clinched their second Olympic berths; McLaughlin made it to Rio in 2016 as a 16-year-old. They were racing in 97-degree heat in a final that was delayed several hours after temperatures went north of 110 degrees and a heptathlete fainted.
