(Video) Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Makes 400m History, While Husband’s Emotion-Filled Celebration Captures Hearts

26-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone first won her World Athletics Championships gold in 2019 in Doha for the 4*400m relay.

(Video) Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Makes 400m History, While Husband’s Emotion-Filled Celebration Captures Hearts

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone made history, and husband Andre (inset) (Images via Instagram @worldathletics)

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Four-time Olympic medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone cruised to her first 400m gold at the World Championships with a time of 47.78, setting a new championship record at the eagerly awaited finals.

The winner’s jubilation was shared by her husband, Andre Levrone Jr., whose emotion-filled celebration took over social media. A former NFL wide receiver, Levrone began the race seated on the sideline, hands clasped in silent prayer as he cheered her on. The moment the starting pistol went off, he sprang to his feet, shouting encouragement with every stride.

And when Sydney blazed across the finish line, he erupted in joy, punching the air and voice breaking with pure joy. Moments later, the two shared an embrace.

The unfavorable weather conditions didn’t stop McLaughlin-Levrone from setting the second-best timing in the 400m. In 47.78s, the New Jersey native surpassed the 42-year championship record and the previous second-best finish set by Czechoslovakia’s Jarmila Kratochvilova.

Kratochvilova finished with 47.99 seconds in the inaugural World Championships hosted by Helsinki in 1983. However, she still holds the record for the fastest time in the 800m at the World Championships.

The finals were contested fiercely, with the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino finishing with the third-best timings in the category with a 47.98 finish. The finals marked the first time two women broke the 48-second barrier in a single race.

The rest six finished under 50s, the first time eight women finished 400m in less than fifty seconds in a single race. Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain took home the bronze with a 48.19 finish, her season best. Paulino and Cuba’s Roxana Gomez, who finished sixth in the race (49.48), both set national records.

Sydney McLaughlin came oh so close to breaking the controversial world record

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was just 0.18s short of rewriting the world record, which is still intact. Marita Koch of East Germany ran 400m in 47.60 seconds at the Bruce Stadium in Canberra in the year 1985 and set the record that has stood the test of time. With the pace the world saw at Tokyo from all the finalists, Koch’s record might be broken sooner than one thinks.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Image via Reuters)

The record-breaking would be a delight to many. Marita Koch’s world record of 47.60 has long faced doubts, with critics alleging she relied on banned substances. Eight years ago, European Athletics even urged the sport’s global governing body to wipe out all records set before 2005, the year stored blood and urine samples began enabling advanced drug testing, but the proposal failed.

In an article published in 1997, German molecular biologist Werner Franke and his wife, former Olympic discus thrower Brigitte Berendonk, exposed several files revealing a systemic state-run doping in East Germany to improve their performance on the global stage. The documents obtained by the couple detailed specific dates and dosages of Koch’s alleged Oral-Turinabol use.

Nevertheless, Koch has denied any wrongdoing on her part. She claimed that she had never any sort of illicit activity, nor had she ever tested positive on a drug test. She told BBC back in 2014:

I never tested positive. I never did anything which I should not have done at that time.

World Athletics can’t erase Koch’s record. She never tested positive, and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s 10-year limit ran out long ago. Her mark stays unless she admits to using banned drugs.

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