by Larry Eder
There are athletes who are athletic geniuses. Jesse Owens was one. He worked hard and used his talents to build himself into the finest sprinter and jumper of his generation.
Last month, Sydney McLaughlin ran a 51.62 over what she thought was the 400m hurdles. There were ten hurdles, but, hurdles five and six were not on the official lines, so the time was not accepted.
Sydney McLaughlin must have been a bit of an unhappy camper. One would never know, that is not how Sydney comports herself.
Training with Bobby Kersee and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Sydney McLaughlin is in a stratosphere all by herself. She has physical talents, which she has developed, and she has the mental talents as well. Her coaching support, her family support, and the support of her friends, and husband allow Sydney to focus on being the finest 400m hurdle athlete in the world.
The thing is, Sydney has run world-class times at 100m hurdles, 400 meter flat, and 400m hurdles. On the NBC broadcast, Ato Boldon noted that once Sydney McLaughlin achieves her goals in the 400m hurdles, she will look to the 400 meter flat perhaps.
The truth is, a 400-meter hurdler can compete from the 400 meters to the 800 meters! Remember Edwin Moses and Harald Schmidt among others? Recall that Sydney and Dalilah were on the 4x400m relay team 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, at the top of her form, who has mastered the event. It is quite hard to see the difference between hurdle 2 and hurdle 10. She pushes herself to the finish line, just as she has done for years.
The silly thing is this, Sydney McLaughlin is one of the finest athletes in the world. She makes one of the toughest races in our sport look easy. The 400-meter hurdles combines the lactic acid pain of the 400m flat and then one adds ten hurdles. If one talks to young hurdlers, they swear that the hurdles seem to get taller the later that they are in the race. That is just one’s mind playing tricks on them.
Well, Sydney McLaughlin is on a roll. Just how fast can she run over ten hurdles in one lap? Dare I say under 51 seconds?
We will just have to wait and see. And that is what makes it so exciting.
