Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2021 21:16:31 GMT
Meet Team USA's Track And Field Star Sydney McLaughlin
At age 21, Sydney McLaughlin is being hailed as the future of track and field. A few weeks ago, she set the world record in women’s 400-meter hurdles, and now she joins the 3rd Hour of TODAY live as she prepares to head off to the Tokyo Olympics.
Sydney McLaughlin is the future of athletics. That's what they say. And the numbers agree.
Nearly half a million Instagram followers. A seven-figure shoe deal. A place in Time's Next 100 list of emerging cultural icons.
As the Tokyo Olympics loom, so does McLaughlin. The 21-year-old American's star power sells watches, isotonic drinks and sportswear as brands anticipate her impact on the greatest stage.
But McLaughlin herself is looking back. Back to an athlete who was winning Olympic titles 20 years before she was born.
Edwin Moses did endorsements. Before the 1984 Games, he was plastered on billboards around downtown Los Angeles, clearing a hurdle in his red tracksuit, soaring over a Kodak camera logo.
But McLaughlin was looking deeper.
During 2020's enforced lay-off, she wound back old footage of Moses, examining the technique that won two Olympic golds and established an unprecedented decade-long dominance of their 400m hurdles event.
Moses did what coaches had told him was impossible. At 6ft 2in tall, his long stride, impeccable hurdling technique and deep reserves of stamina meant he could do what no-one else could - a consistent 13 steps between each hurdle.
Now McLaughlin wants to do similar.
"So far in my career I have just been training hard, going out there and running, as opposed to understanding the race itself," she tells BBC Sport.
"Last year really gave me the time to break down the 400m hurdles, understanding more about the event.
"It is such a rhythm race - normally people fatigue, start to take more steps and switch legs.
"No woman has run it with 15 strides between each hurdle. That's what a perfect race looks like.
"Edwin Moses did it flawlessly with a 13-step pattern. Last year was about breaking down what that looks like, the landing over the hurdle, the timing in between, to run that so-called perfect race."
The best route to perfection is not always the most direct. Coming into this weekend's US Olympic trials, McLaughlin has run the 400m hurdles only once since the Doha World Championships in 2019.
Instead she has started 2021 with a slew of 100m hurdles races, taking on taller, more frequent barriers at greater speed. It's all part of new coach Bobby Kersee's plan.
"He is all about putting me in uncomfortable situations," adds McLaughlin.
At age 21, Sydney McLaughlin is being hailed as the future of track and field. A few weeks ago, she set the world record in women’s 400-meter hurdles, and now she joins the 3rd Hour of TODAY live as she prepares to head off to the Tokyo Olympics.
Sydney McLaughlin is the future of athletics. That's what they say. And the numbers agree.
Nearly half a million Instagram followers. A seven-figure shoe deal. A place in Time's Next 100 list of emerging cultural icons.
As the Tokyo Olympics loom, so does McLaughlin. The 21-year-old American's star power sells watches, isotonic drinks and sportswear as brands anticipate her impact on the greatest stage.
But McLaughlin herself is looking back. Back to an athlete who was winning Olympic titles 20 years before she was born.
Edwin Moses did endorsements. Before the 1984 Games, he was plastered on billboards around downtown Los Angeles, clearing a hurdle in his red tracksuit, soaring over a Kodak camera logo.
But McLaughlin was looking deeper.
During 2020's enforced lay-off, she wound back old footage of Moses, examining the technique that won two Olympic golds and established an unprecedented decade-long dominance of their 400m hurdles event.
Moses did what coaches had told him was impossible. At 6ft 2in tall, his long stride, impeccable hurdling technique and deep reserves of stamina meant he could do what no-one else could - a consistent 13 steps between each hurdle.
Now McLaughlin wants to do similar.
"So far in my career I have just been training hard, going out there and running, as opposed to understanding the race itself," she tells BBC Sport.
"Last year really gave me the time to break down the 400m hurdles, understanding more about the event.
"It is such a rhythm race - normally people fatigue, start to take more steps and switch legs.
"No woman has run it with 15 strides between each hurdle. That's what a perfect race looks like.
"Edwin Moses did it flawlessly with a 13-step pattern. Last year was about breaking down what that looks like, the landing over the hurdle, the timing in between, to run that so-called perfect race."
The best route to perfection is not always the most direct. Coming into this weekend's US Olympic trials, McLaughlin has run the 400m hurdles only once since the Doha World Championships in 2019.
Instead she has started 2021 with a slew of 100m hurdles races, taking on taller, more frequent barriers at greater speed. It's all part of new coach Bobby Kersee's plan.
"He is all about putting me in uncomfortable situations," adds McLaughlin.