Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is an American hurdler and sprinter, born on 7 August 1999 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who holds the world record in the 400 metres hurdles and the American record for the flat 400 metres. She won Olympic gold in 2020 and 2024, setting the hurdles world record of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Games, and she won world titles in 2022 and 2025; at all four of those competitions she also took gold in the women's 4 x 400 metres relay. She was the first woman to break 52 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, in June 2021, and 51 seconds, in July 2022. She won the 400 m hurdles at the 2015 World Youth Championships at the age of fifteen, and in 2016 she was the youngest athlete since Denean Howard in 1980 to qualify for the U.S. Olympic track team. World Athletics named her Female Athlete of the Year in 2022 and again in 2025.