The Sydney Project: how elite athletics traps McLaughlin but also sets her free

World record holder has to deal with the difficult feelings that come with knowing she is a figment of the ambition of others

STAR: USA’s Sydney McLaughlin celebrates following the Women’s 400m Hurdles Final on day eight of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field, University of Oregon in the United States of America.. Photo: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.

It’s 2022. Sydney McLaughlin is 22. She crosses the line and sits down on the track. There are no wild celebrations or overt displays of emotion. Maybe she’s simply stunned at the fact that she’s just run a world 400m hurdles final in a time that would have earned seventh place in the final of the 400m flat. Maybe she’s reflecting on the mathematical improbability of lowering the world record from 52.16 to 50.68 in the space of 13 months. Maybe she’s just thinking about the lactic acid still burning inside her legs.

At the press conference, the focus is not on what she has just achieved but what she might yet achieve. More world records? The 50-second barrier? A switch of events? The world has seen a miracle, and all it wants to know about is her next trick. “The sky’s the limit, for sure,” she says. “I need to ask my coach about our next goal. He calls the shots.” She doesn’t say what she wants for herself.