Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone cemented her status as one of the greatest athletes of the modern era by breaking her own world record in the Olympic 400m hurdles final with a time of 50.37 seconds.
The 25-year-old demonstrated her mastery of the six-time world record event by comfortably beating Dutch powerhouse Femke Boll (52.15) to third place at the Stade de France on Thursday night. Anna Cockrell of the United States took silver in 51.87.
McLaughlin-Levrone is scheduled to compete in the 4x400m relay later this week, where she has a chance to win the third Olympic gold medal of her career.
With this gold medal, she became the first American to defend an individual track gold medal since Michael Johnson won consecutive 400m gold medals in 1996 and 2000.
That evening, the United States won two medals in the 200 meters: 100-meter champion Noah Lyles won bronze and Kenny Bednarek won silver. Bednarek won gold behind a brilliant run by Botswana's Letsile Tebogo. After the race, it was revealed that Lyles had COVID-19.
The United States added another gold medal late Thursday when Grant Holloway beat teammate Daniel Roberts to win the men's 110-meter hurdles. Jamaica's Rasheed Broadbell won the bronze medal.
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