This year, when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone left hurdles to run 400m flat, many pondered if she’d be able to assert her dominance in an unfamiliar discipline. But last month in Tokyo, she stunned everyone by clocking 47.78 seconds in the women’s 400m. With this, she also threatened the 40-year-old record of Germany’s Marita Koch, who clocked 47.60 back in 1985. Though she couldn’t surpass that record, McLaughlin-Levrone certainly reshaped the event’s hierarchy. And now, Olympic legend Justin Gatlin has revealed exactly what makes her new challenge so disruptive.

On October 26, in an episode of the Ready Set Go podcast, Justin Gatlin weighed in on the challenge that McLaughlin-Levrone created for her rivals. He first highlighted McLaughlin-Levrone’s semi-final run (48.29) in Tokyo, where she broke the American record held by Sanya Richards-Ross. “For her to go out there, break the American record very easily in the semis, just to come back, and that’s the fastest time she’s ever ran before in her life. Just to double back around to run even faster in the finals was crazy.”

On top of that, Gatlin was mesmerized by the fact that the hurdler dominated against Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid Naser. According to Gatlin, the 400m dash at the Tokyo World Championships leveled up McLaughlin-Levrone’s competition. He stated, “They realized that now we have to run 47s. 48.0, 48.1 is not gonna get the job done. Meaning, Paulino and Naser, shoulder-to-shoulder, strife-for-stride, running to the finish line’s not gonna get the job done anymore. Now we have a dark horse who is coming into our event that’s really going to wreak havoc. Or we gotta level up to that.” 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone certainly pushed the talent hub of the women’s 400m to a spot that’s going to raise the entropy higher than ever. But does that mean we won’t get to see the 400m champion in the hurdles anymore? Well, not really! She still has some plans for the 400m hurdles. 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone still has a goal for 400m hurdles

Right now, McLaughlin-Levrone stands at the peak of the 400m hurdles with a clock-in time of 50.37 seconds. She has broken six world records in her career and aims to break one more in the hurdles. Talking to the Vanity Fair following her win at the 2025 World Championships, she said, “There’s still a lot to do. I’d like to run 49 seconds in the 400-metre hurdles and set my sights on the world record in the 400m dash. The time will come to make decisions, but there’s certainly a lot of work to do.”

But did you know that McLaughlin-Levrone was on the verge of missing out on breaking the 40-year-old record? Well, in an interview with the Telegraph, she revealed that she was worried about having to run through the rain. There was a weather delay because of rain, and thankfully, there wasn’t any thunder and lightning. Of course, running on a dry track is significantly different as compared to running on a water soaked track. Nevertheless, the New Jersey native was happy with the results. 

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone stated, “I can’t complain with 47.7.” Her shock and joy were visible as the clock-in time flashed on the screen. But she still has to stay wary of stars like Paulino and Naser. After all, they have been ruling the 400m flats for a long time. And with the aim of going sub-47s, they will pose a great threat to McLaughlin-Levrone in 400m flat. The four-time Olympic champ’s pursuit of greatness in both events is far from over.