2025 Athletics World Championships: Sydney McLaughlin

On September 18th (Thursday), at the 2025 Athletics World Championships in Tokyo, 26-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Laeferon sprinted to victory in the women’s 400m final in light rain, clocking at 47.78 to claim her first world title in the event. The American athlete, who already had two Olympic gold medals and a 400m hurdles world championship gold, topped a world championship in a non-hurdling race for the first time, falling just 0.18 seconds short of the 40-year-old world record held by German star Marita Koch (47.60). Although she didn’t break the longstanding record, her time still shattered the event record since the inaugural world championships in 1983, ranking as the second fastest in history. “I knew I had enough power, especially in the last…