Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone knew exactly what she was doing. When the reigning Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion stepped away from the event that made her a global force, it wasn’t out of uncertainty. It was a deliberate shift, a clean break from dominance to discomfort. What she left behind was a world record and a gold medal. What she pursued was something more elusive: growth. And at the 2025 US Track & Field Championships, she got her answer.

McLaughlin-Levrone stormed to victory in the women’s 400m final with a season-best 48.90 seconds, claiming her second national title in the event. She made up the stagger by the halfway point and charged down the backstretch without a rival close enough to challenge her rhythm. The final 100 meters lacked tension, but not clarity. This was McLaughlin-Levrone’s event now. Isabella Whittaker finished second in 49.59, and Aaliyah Butler closed well to take third in 49.91, narrowly edging out Lynna Irby-Jackson (50.06). The race took place at Hayward Field in Eugene, the same venue where McLaughlin-Levrone set her 400m personal best of 48.74. Yet, despite securing an impeccable win, McLayghlin-Levrone failed to fulfill one of her biggest aims.

With her winning time of 48.90 seconds at the US Championships, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone now sits just 0.20 seconds shy of Sanya Richards-Ross’ American record of 48.70, set in 2006. Richards-Ross emerged as the Olympic champ in the 400m at London 2012. Moreover, she is a four-time Olympic gold medalist overall, including three from relay events. But taking up a new challenge, Sydney is just a step away from shattering Richards-Ross’ record!

Her decision to switch to the 400m flat had been announced weeks earlier, with little ambiguity about the motivation. “Sometimes when we don’t understand something straight away, like golf, like I’m not good at golf,” she told Michael Johnson at the Upfront Summit. “And I think part of why I don’t want to try golf is because I’m not naturally good at it as a competitor. But I’m sure, if I started to realise I could get better, then I would want to be the best golfer in the world.” The analogy may have amused Johnson, but it underlined a deeper principle: McLaughlin-Levrone does not seek comfort. She chases difficulty with intent. “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, I’m going to try to do it better. And I just can’t help myself!”

Her coach had acknowledged the physical strain of contesting both the 400m flat and hurdles at Nationals, given the overlapping schedule. But McLaughlin-Levrone’s choice was not merely logistical. It was personal. In 2023, she already ranked among the fastest American women in the open 400m. Now, she has asserted herself again. And this time, not as the heir to a discipline, but as a champion carving out an entirely new domain.

Why Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone walked away from dominance to chase something harder

In a sport often defined by specialization, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s decision to leave behind the 400-meter hurdles, a discipline she has effectively owned for half a decade, speaks volumes. It is not a shift made out of necessity. She remains undefeated since 2019, holds the world record, and possesses two Olympic gold medals in the event. The easy choice would have been to maintain that supremacy. Instead, she chose uncertainty. She chose a new race. And in doing so, she revealed the core of her competitive character and her unrelenting desire to pursue growth, even when dominance was already hers.

This choice is not rooted in a discontent with the past but in a persistent drive toward what might still be possible. Her words, shared during an appearance on the Ready Set Go podcast, provide rare insight into the psychology behind such a move. “I just want to be the best that I can be when I step on the track,” she said. “And I truly feel like I’m a student of the sport.” Her time of 48.74 seconds in the 400m flat places her within a breath of the American record. Yet even that benchmark may prove insufficient for someone who admits to being stirred from sleep by the urge to improve. “There’s something that wakes me up in the middle of the night, and it’s like, ‘we gotta get to work’.”

McLaughlin-Levrone is not chasing medals alone. She is seeking clarity, the certainty that, when the moment comes to step away, she will have given her absolute limit to the discipline she chose. “When I hang up my spikes one day, I want to be content in knowing I gave everything I had to everything I did,” she said. It is this quiet conviction, not the lure of another podium, that brought her to the 400m flat. Her pursuit is no longer about maintaining a crown. It is about whether she can build something entirely new.