At 19 years of age, Sydney McLaughlin Levrone did not have any shortage of shoe companies lining to sign her. But Sydney chose to stick to New Balance. No, not because she had the idea about how their shoes are going to enhance her performance. But the reason was more personal than that.

“Without naming the companies, A lot of them were selling the dream that you are going to be the next XYZ. I felt that New Balance wanted me to be the first Sydney, be the first me and how can we do that? How can we build your brand and how can we partner with you in what you want to do? They have always been there for me since high school, giving my team uniforms and inviting us places, I knew that this was going to be a family partnership in the long run in terms of whether I’m losing or winning they are still going to be there,” Sydney had said in The It Girls podcast in 2023.

Proving Sydney correct, the brand has remained with her, offering her an annual salary of 1$.5 million, as she became a phenom in the 400m hurdles discipline. Sydney had once praised the brand as she had elaborated on her training experience in their gear: “I love training in something that feels like a cloud but still is going to let me go the distance.” This very comfort of the New Balance shoes was once sorely missed by the 4x Olympic champion back in her NCAA days. In her book Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, released in January, Sydney has detailed the incident.

It happened during her first season at the University of Kentucky way back in 2018. She was halfway through her first season of the NCAA Championship as a freshman when she noticed something unexpected. “I started to notice a sharp pain in my right foot.”, said McLaughlin in her highly acclaimed book. At the time, she wasn’t sure what caused her pain, yet she mentioned, “But I do know that my shoes either caused the injury or made it worse.”

Talking about the New Balance shoes Sydney wrote, “They fit me perfectly and kept my feet—my most valuable asset—free from injury.” These shoes saved her from the traumas of injury that many other high school athletes were experiencing at the time. She said, “New Balance shoes kept me running on cloud nine.” But in Kentucky, she wasn’t allowed to wear her favorite shoes anymore due to an equipment deal that her team had with another company. The difference in experience with the new pairs was clear immediately.

“The unfamiliar feel, combined with the relentless training routine—and I mean absolutely relentless—started to wear down my foot.” But how could she let that happen to her “most valuable asset”? So she complained about it to her coach but those fell on deaf ears. However, her injury and the change in apparel never cost her the race. The 400m Hurdles Queen became an NCAA champion that year, with an incredible time of 53.96s. But a serious consequence of carrying on with those unfamiliar pairs came to the fore a year later.

Sydney realized that her shoes resulted in a stress fracture. This isn’t just one such instance of an injury that inhibited her ability to perform at the highest level. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had a heartbreaking moment in 2023, where due to a knee injury, she wasn’t able to participate at the World Championship that year. However, she had a more than perfect comeback with a Paris Olympic gold the following year. In all of this, Sydney credits her learnings at the University of Kentucky for her thriving career.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s experience at Kentucky

In September Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was added to the Hall of Fame at the University of Kentucky, that too, after attending only a year at Kentucky as a student. Going to her former university was something like returning to her roots. The four-time Olympic champion gave a speech on the occasion, sharing what she owes the famed university. “It was here, on this track, that I learned for the first time that 50 seconds was possible in the 400 hurdles.”

At that moment, she also remembered her former coach, Edrick Floréal. After all, it was coach Flo who pushed her to perform better during her years developing into a prime athlete. And with Coach Floreal’s ask for excellence, things were anything but easy. “Thanks to coach Flo and the way he pushed me to where I was on the track seeing jellyfish flying around. That’s how hard the workout was,” Sydney had said.

But her life at Kentucky was way more than just sports as she learned a lot about everyday things and experienced personal growth. “I learned what true friendship looks like, and I learned how to do my laundry for the first time.” But it war these experiences that shaped her into the athlete she is.

“My year here was hard, I’m not going to act like it wasn’t as it is for many college athletes all over the country,” she said. “But I wouldn’t change it for the world, honestly. I would not be the woman that I am had I not attended UK,” Sydney had said. Indeed it started from that win at the 2018 NCAA Championship. Then there was no looking back, as she steadily carved her path to history.