Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shares USA 4x400m relay team's hilarious reaction to missing world record by small margin at Paris Olympics

By Abhiruchi Rout

Modified Aug 13, 2024 16:33 GMT

American sprinter and hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recently recounted the moment when Team USA narrowly missed breaking the world record in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Alongside McLaughlin-Levrone, the team featured Gabby Thomas, Alexis Holmes, and Shamier Little.

In the women’s 4x400m relay final, the United States achieved a phenomenal American record and world-leading time of 3:15.27 to bag the gold medal for the nation at the Paris Olympics. McLaughlin-Levrone contributed significantly to this record-breaking time with a sensational second-leg split of 47.71s, the quickest split among all the athletes who ran the women’s 4x400m finals.

Besides McLaughlin-Levrone, Shamier Little (first leg), Gabby Thomas (third leg), and Alexis Holmes (anchor leg) played a crucial role in Team USA’s victory with split times of 49.48s, 49.30, and 48.78s, respectively. This victory contributed to Team USA's overall medal haul, securing their position at the top of the medal tally with 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze medals.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone took to her Instagram story on August 13 to share the moment when the American athletes realized that they were too close to breaking the world record, adding:

“The moment we realized we were 0.10 away from the World Record 😅🤣”

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone's Instagram story

The world record is currently held by Soviet Union’s Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, and Olga Bryzgina, who clocked a record-breaking time of 3:15.17. They achieved this during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Throughout the event’s history at the Olympics, the USA women’s team has been very dominant, winning a total of 13 medals, which includes nine gold and four silver medals. They have not faced defeat in this event since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

A look into Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s performance at the Olympics

Sydney Mclaughlin shows her Gold Medal won in the Women's 400m Hurdles at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 held in 2021. (Photo by Kaz Photography/Getty Images)

In addition to her performance in the 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone bagged a gold medal in the individual 400m hurdles, breaking her own world record with a dominant performance of 50.37s.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, McLaughlin-Levrone also won two gold medals in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay events.

Like the Paris Olympics, she also shattered the world record in the 400m hurdles, with a time of 51.46s, by defeating the pre-race favorite and compatriot Dalilah Muhammad.