Feeling Out of Control, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Faced Career Low : “Never Been So Disappointed”
It won’t be far-fetched to say that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is one of the most dominant stars in track and field right now. The way she has consistently broken world records has been nothing short of incredible. Yet, while today her career reaches new heights with every single race, that was not always the case.
During the 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Sydney finished the race with a time of 52.88 seconds. This couldn’t match up to Dalilah Muhammad’s 52.20, making her the clear winner, while the now Olympic gold medalist settled for the second spot. However, she got the chance to take her revenge at the IAAF World Championships in Doha. She wanted to win the race anyhow and had started working for it. But Sydney was unaware at that time that this was the start of a very tumultuous time.
The darkest period of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s career.
According to her book, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set her mind completely on defeating Dalilah Muhammad in Doha and winning the World Championships. The victory would be enough to heal her wounds from the Track and field Championships. She changed her style of hurdling a bit to improve her obstacle-clearing. However, Sydney was going through a lot of anxiety as she kept thinking about the high temperature she would have to perform in.
In the end, she could have definitely been proud of the way she raced. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone finished with a time of 52.23 seconds. It was the third fastest time in the history of 400 m hurdling. Surely that would be enough to seal the victory? It wasn’t. Dalilah Muhammad ran a time of 52.16 seconds that night, which became the new world record. Sydney was heartbroken and started crying after seeing her dad in the tunnel. Some of the US team tried to congratulate her on her race. But she wasn’t in the right headspace at that time.
She explained in her book, “I didn’t want to hear the congratulations. I didn’t want to be told that I’d just run a brilliant race. I knew the truth. I’d fallen short yet again. I’ve never been so disappointed, so completely crushed, after a race.” Sydney admitted that she had reached the lowest emotional point of her career. She knew she needed help. The Olympic gold medalist also wrote that despite this, if she went back in time, she wouldn’t change a thing. This is because Sydney would soon find out that she was chasing ‘fool’s gold’.
