There are athletes who’re athletic geniuses. Jesse Owens was one. He labored exhausting and used his abilities to construct himself into the best sprinter and jumper of his era.
Final month, Sydney McLaughlin ran a 51.62 over what she thought was the 400m hurdles. There have been ten hurdles, however, hurdles 5 and 6 weren’t on the official strains, so the time was not accepted.
Sydney McLaughlin should have been a little bit of an sad camper. One would by no means know, that’s not how Sydney comports herself.
Coaching with Bobby Kersee and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Sydney McLaughlin is in a stratosphere all by herself. She has bodily abilities, which she has developed, and he or she has the psychological abilities as properly. Her teaching help, her household help, and the help of her buddies, and husband enable Sydney to deal with being the best 400m hurdle athlete on this planet.
The factor is, Sydney has run world-class instances at 100m hurdles, 400 meter flat, and 400m hurdles. On the NBC broadcast, Ato Boldon famous that after Sydney McLaughlin achieves her objectives within the 400m hurdles, she’s going to look to the 400 meter flat maybe.
The reality is, a 400-meter hurdler can compete from the 400 meters to the 800 meters! Keep in mind Edwin Moses and Harald Schmidt amongst others? Recall that Sydney and Dalilah had been on the 4x400m relay group in Tokyo? Recall that Rai Benjamin ran the 400m hurdles and 4x400m at Doha WC 2019 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
If one watched Sydney McLaughlin run the 400-meter hurdles, one sees an athlete, on the prime of her type, who has mastered the occasion. It’s fairly exhausting to see the distinction between hurdle 2 and hurdle 10. She pushes herself to the end line, simply as she has carried out for years.
The foolish factor is that this, Sydney McLaughlin is among the best athletes on this planet. She makes one of many hardest races in our sport look simple. The 400-meter hurdles combines the lactic acid ache of the 400m flat after which one provides ten hurdles. If one talks to younger hurdlers, they swear that the hurdles appear to get taller the later that they’re within the race. That is only one’s thoughts taking part in methods on them.
Nicely, Sydney McLaughlin is on a roll. Simply how briskly can she run over ten hurdles in a single lap? Dare I say beneath 51 seconds?
We’ll simply have to attend and see. And that’s what makes it so thrilling.
-
View all posts
