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A day after her 25th birthday, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a graduate of Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, set a new world record at the Olympic Games.
The record she beat? Her own.
In fact, it was the sixth time the American hurdler and sprinter set the record for the women's 400-meter hurdle. Completing Thursday’s race in 50.37 seconds, she won gold at the Paris Olympics and broke her old world record of 50.65 seconds.
McLaughlin-Levrone is the first woman ever to win the 400-meter hurdles at back-to-back Olympics.
Later in the week, she helped the USA Women's team take home gold in the 4x400 relay. But after her hurdles win, she took to social media to express what she'd been feeling: “What an honor, a blessing, and a privilege. I never want to take these moments for granted,” she wrote on Instagram. “In a week where my faith was tried, my peace wavered, and the weight of the world began to descend, God was beyond gracious.”
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That kind of talk doesn’t surprise those who have known her since her high school days – like Monika Wlodarski, who was a teammate of Sydney's at Union Catholic.
“She was an athlete and a teammate that everybody looked up to,” Wlodarski told Aleteia. “I think she's an inspiring athlete on and off the field. What I find really impressive is that she can run an aggressive race, throughout the entirety of her race.”
Standing up for her beliefs
Wlodarksi, who recently graduated from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, appreciates the fact that McLaughlin-Levrone credits her successes not only to her own hard work, “but also her support system: her family, her husband – she recently got married – and most importantly, God, which is something that I find particularly inspiring. She stands up for what she believes in, both in an athletic sense and also her faith, which I think is really important in today's day and age.”
Wlodarski was two years behind McLaughlin-Levrone, a 2017 graduate of Union Catholic, and the two “were kind of friends.” She knew that McLaughlin-Levrone was an “intelligent student and well liked by her peers and the faculty as well.” She and other students at Union Catholic have followed McLaughlin-Levrone’s career.
Even before her senior year in high school, McLaughlin ran in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She placed fifth in her semi-final heat, failing to advance to the finals. Four years later, though, she brought home a gold medal from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
World champion
Meanwhile, she had turned professional while studying at the University of Kentucky, and in June 2022, she broke her own world record, running the 400-meter hurdle with a time of 51.41 during the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. A month later at the World Championships, she broke that record again with a time of 50.68 seconds, taking the title of World Champion.
On June 30, 2024, at the 2024 Olympic Trials, McLaughlin-Levrone would go on to break her own world record once more, finishing with a time of 50.65 seconds – the record she broke this past week.
Besides her accomplishments on the field, McLaughlin-Levrone is also a first-time author, publishing a memoir, Far Beyond Gold: Running From Fear to Faith. According to Jersey Catholic.org, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark, writing the book helped her “connect the dots between who I was before and who I am now.”
“For a very long time, I ran from my difficulties,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “I tried to escape from my trials by chasing happiness in things that were not benefiting me and found myself anxious, depressed, frustrated, and lonely. I didn’t realize how much better my life and career would be if I just put my trust in Him, and once I did, I found happiness and strength. I’ve lived through a lot of incredible moments, but it’s only now that I have Christ as my cornerstone that I am really living.”
Following parents’ footsteps
McLaughlin-Levrone grew up in an athletic family. Her father, Willie McLaughlin, is a member of the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-time All-American. He was a semi-finalist in the 400 meters at the 1984 Olympic Trials. Her mother, Mary Neumeister McLaughlin, was a 2:12 half-miler at Cardinal O'Hara High School in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York. The couple met as students at Manhattan College; there was no women's track team when Mary arrived in 1979, so she became the manager of the men's track team.
Sydney took up running at an early age, following brother Taylor and their older sister Morgan. When she was 14, her father said, "All of our kids are fairly talented, but (Sydney's) a little special.
In 2022, Sydney married Andre Levrone Jr., a former NFL football player. She has called her husband “the most God-fearing, passionate, honest, loving, hard working, protective, and genuine man I’ve ever met.”
The couple now live in Los Angeles.
“You rarely see this type of raw talent,” Monika Wlodarski said. “And once you mix in her hard work and effort, she just is pure greatness every time she runs. It's awesome. So she's a talented, good role model for all, for all athletes to look up to.”
Union Catholic Athletic Director Dave Luciano told Jersey Catholic: “Her dedication and passion for her sport, her love for her family, and her unwavering faith in the Lord have been an incredible recipe for success — one that each student in our building, athlete or not, can strive to emulate. The UC Community is so proud of all she has accomplished.”
