Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone obliterated World Record to win 400m hurdles final

Dundalk’s Kate O’Connor had a strong first day in the heptathlon, rounded off with a 24.77-second season’s best in the 200m, leaving her with 3596 points and in 19th place.

NEW WORLD RECORD: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of Team United States celebrates after winning gold in the women's 400m hurdles final. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

It was a race that promised so much, and it delivered even more. However, this was not the head-to-head many had anticipated between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol. Instead the Olympic women’s 400m hurdles final turned into a one-woman exhibition of sporting greatness, McLaughlin-Levrone producing one of the greatest performances in Olympic history by obliterating her own world record, clocking a mind-boggling 50.37 to win her second straight title.

Bol had tried her best to stay with the US superstar, but that task was akin to chasing a TGV across France as the New Jersey native left the rest of her rivals – and every other female 400m hurdler in history – trailing in a different district.