McLaughlin smashes world record as Miller-Uibo, Norman claim 400m crowns

Published July 24, 2022
Sydney McLaughlin of the US crosses the line to win the women’s 400-metre hurdles final in a world record time at Hayward Field.—Reuters
Sydney McLaughlin of the US crosses the line to win the women’s 400-metre hurdles final in a world record time at Hayward Field.—Reuters

EUGENE: American Sydney McLaughlin set the world championships alight on Friday when she obliterated her own world record en route to gold in the 400m hurdles, while compatriot Michael Norman claimed the men’s 400m crown and Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo won the women’s event.

In a consummate display of front-foot running, McLaughlin left a loaded field for dead from the gun, haring through the tape in an astonishing 50.68 seconds. It sliced more than half a second off her previous world mark of 51.41sec set last month.

“We took the 400m hurdles and made it something you want to watch,” said McLaughlin, adding that she was proud to have once again delivered at a “big-stage race”.

“I knew the pressure was going to be there tonight. The time is absolutely amazing and the sport is getting faster and faster. Just figuring out what barriers can be broken. I only get faster from here.”

Femke Bol of the Netherlands took silver in 52.27sec while defending champion Dalilah Muhammad of the United States took bronze in 53.13.

To put McLaughlin’s staggering performance in perspective, her time after negotiating 10 hurdles over 400m would have seen her beat two runners in the women’s flat 400m final, raced just minutes beforehand.

That race was won by two-time Olympic champion Miller-Uibo.

Miller-Uibo, who was deprived of gold in Doha in 2019 by Salwa Eid Nasr of Bahrain — since banned from the Tokyo Games and these championships after three missed doping tests — timed a world lead of 49.11sec at Hayward Field.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic claimed silver in 49.60sec, with Sada Williams of Barbados taking bronze in a national record of 48.75.

In the men’s event, Norman made up for a disappointing fifth-placed finish in Tokyo by winning gold in Eugene, charging to victory in 44.29 seconds for his first world crown.

Former Olympic and world champion Kirani James of Grenada was runner-up while Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith held off Champion Allison to take the final podium place.

“Last year was not a good year for me so I had to do a lot of hard work just to get back to where I was,” Norman said. “This moment is going to be remembered forever.”

World record holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, who set the record of 43.04sec when winning gold at the Rio Olympics, finished fifth in 44.97sec.

Tokyo bronze medallist Kelsey-Lee Barber joined 400m runner Cathy Freeman as the only Australians to retain a world athletics title after defending her javelin crown with a world-leading throw of 66.91m.

American Kara Winger (64.05) and Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi (63.27) snatched silver and bronze with their last-round throws.

Peru’s Kimberly Garcia Leon won the inaugural 35km women’s race walk in 2:39:16, a week after claiming her first world gold over 20km.

Katarzyna Zdzieblo of Poland and China’s Qieyang Shijie also mirrored their results from the 20km race walk by finishing second and third.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2022

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