As Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Marileidy Paulino whisked around the final bend of the 400m final at the World Championships in Tokyo, did McLaughlin-Levrone think back to when Paulino handed her just one of two career losses in the event in Paris two years prior? Probably not, though she certainly had reason to. The New Jerseyan led most of that 2023 race, surging to an early advantage from the inside lane and maintaining it for three-quarters of the course. But she’d gone out too hard. The 400-meter is a cruel trial, just too long to sprint flat-out the entire way, just too short to save meaningful reserves. McLaughlin-Levrone erred on the side of aggression and paid the price in that unforgiving final straightaway. Paulino flew past her and finished comfortably in front. On Thursday night, Paulino once again seemed to creep up on McLaughlin-Levrone in the middle of the final 100.
This time, however, McLaughlin-Levrone maintained her advantage in the dying meters, form smooth and languid as Paulino’s grew ragged and bouncy. Paulino ran one of the best 400m flat races ever, clocking in at 47.98 seconds, the third fastest time to date, and more than a full second faster than her winning time in Paris two years earlier. Without McLaughlin-Levrone in the race, she’d have been the talk of the day. With the American around, all headlines concerned her supernatural 47.78. It was the fastest time run in four decades; the one remaining time faster than McLaughlin-Levrone’s, run by Marita Coch, was thought by many to be unbreakable and bears suspicion that performance-enhancing drugs greased the track.
