Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone might solely have simply turned 25, however standing on the beginning line on the Olympic stadium is nothing new for her. The New Jersey native—who’s already damaged 5 world data—is returning for her third Olympic Video games in Paris with hopes of including one other gold (or two) to her medal rely.

As a 16-year-old, McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400-meter hurdle world junior file with a time of 54.15 on the 2016 US Olympic Trials. That punched her ticket to the Rio Video games, the place she made it to the semifinals. She returned even stronger on the Tokyo Video games; she gained the 400-meter hurdles, outkicking American teammate Dalilah Muhammad by 0.12 seconds. She was additionally a member of the gold-winning 4×400-meter relay workforce in Tokyo with Muhammad, Alison Felix, and Athing Mu.

And within the lead-up to the Paris Video games, McLaughlin-Levrone continued to deliver it. She set the new world file within the 400-meter hurdles—a blistering 50.65 seconds—on the 2024 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on June 30, and is seeking to earn back-to-back golds in Paris.

There’s extra to McLaughlin-Levrone than what we see on the observe, although. She’s outspoken about her religion, has an interesting household background, and he or she’s on a mission to push the game of sprinting additional. Earlier than watching her go for gold on August 8, listed below are 9 issues to know in regards to the world’s quickest 400-meter hurdler.

1. McLaughlin-Levrone comes from a household of gifted runners.

Everybody in McLaughlin-Levrone’s fast household has competed on the observe. Her dad, Willie McLaughlin, was a three-time NCAA All-American within the 400-meter and almost made the Olympic workforce himself in 1984. He was inducted into the Manhattan Faculty Athletic Corridor of Fame in 1997. Mary McLaughlin, Sydney’s mother, ran on the boys’ observe workforce in highschool, as Folks studies.

McLaughlin-Levrone and her three siblings had an energetic childhood. “Observe and discipline has all the time been a part of our lives,” McLaughlin-Levrone mentioned in an interview with the Olympic Channel Podcast. However it wasn’t all operating on a regular basis. “Our dad and mom allow us to select what we wished to do,” she mentioned, and he or she dabbled in basketball, soccer, and dance, however, she added, “for all of us, observe form of stood out.”

Naturally, she was fueled by some wholesome sibling competitors. Her brother Taylor ran Division I observe on the College of Michigan and gained silver on the World Junior under-20 championships within the 400-meter hurdles (apparently a preferred occasion among the many McLaughlins).

2. She was impressed by Sanya Richard-Ross.

McLaughlin-Levrone caught the Olympic bug when she was 9 years previous. She distinctly remembers watching Sanya Richards-Ross compete on the 2008 Beijing Video games, the place the American sprinter gained bronze within the 400-meter and closed an enormous hole within the 4×400-meter relay for gold. As McLaughlin-Levrone mentioned on the podcast, “I bear in mind turning to my mother and being like, ‘I need to do this.’”

3. Qualifying for her first Olympics was a shock.

By center faculty, it was clear that McLaughlin-Levrone was forward of different runners her age, however the extent of her expertise wasn’t totally on show till her first Olympic trials forward of the 2016 Video games in Rio. “Once we went to the trials in 2016, we had been actually simply going for the expertise,” McLaughlin-Levrone instructed the Olympic Channel Podcast. Simply 16 on the time, she remembers considering that there was “no approach” she would qualify for Group USA within the 400-meter hurdles, which might require no less than a third-place end on the Trials. She didn’t simply qualify for the workforce—she additionally beat the fourth-place finisher by over half a second (which is important in a 54-second race!).

4. The College of Kentucky was her dwelling away from dwelling for a yr.

After her standout highschool profession, McLaughlin-Levrone had a alternative between going straight to the professionals or operating within the NCAA. She determined to attend the College of Kentucky in 2017, the place she spent a yr she described as “very pivotal” for her athletic profession. She was uncovered to extra intense coaching and better expectations from coaches, which she mentioned, “actually gave me an inside look into what it’s prefer to be an expert,” as she instructed the Olympic Channel Podcast.

5. Sweet is her race gas of alternative.

A self-proclaimed “sweet connoisseur,” McLaughlin-Levrone credit no less than a few of her pace to a prerace meal of gummy bears, Jolly Ranchers, and Starbursts. “If there’s sweet in my home, it’s not staying for greater than 24 hours,” she mentioned in an interview with GQ. If solely we might all break world data on a bag of gummy bears, McLaughlin-Levrone could be going through much more competitors.

6. Add “revealed creator” to her accolades.

As if Olympic medals aren’t sufficient of an accomplishment, McLaughlin-Levrone additionally launched her first ebook in January. The ebook, Far Past Gold: Operating from Worry to Religion, describes how McLaughlin-Levrone managed the concern and psychological well being struggles she faces as an expert runner. In it, she discusses how her religion helped her come to phrases along with her id and cope with perfectionism, nervousness, and impostor syndrome.