The Japan National Stadium hosted the women’s 400-meter hurdles competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics from July 31st to August 4th, 2021. There were 39 athletes representing 25 countries.
Sydney McLaughlin broke the previous world record of 52.16 seconds set by Dalilah Muhammad at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, running the event in 51.90 seconds.
In Tokyo, both women ran faster than their previous bests; McLaughlin set a new world record with a time of 51.46 seconds, and Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion, won silver with a time of 51.58 seconds.
With a timing of 52.03, Dutch athlete Femke Bol won bronze and set a new European record, moving her up to third place on the all-time global list.
There were a total of four national records broken at this competition: Colombia, Belgium, and Panama.
Analyzing the Women’s 400-Meter Hurdle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
The women’s 400-meter hurdles was extremely active in 2021. Dalilah Muhammad, who won gold at the previous year’s global championship and is defending her title this time around.
Started the year with the world record she set at that competition. However, it was American teammate Sydney McLaughlin who pushed her to break both that record and her previous world record.
McLaughlin was another Olympian, but she gained widespread attention after making it to the semi-finals just days after turning seventeen.
This year, McLaughlin has developed to the point that he is only a few seconds off the world record and a silver medalist at the global championships.
She changed the narrative by setting a new world record of 51 seconds, 90 hundredths of a second at the 2021 United States Olympic Trials.
Winner of The Women 400m Hurdles Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
This past Wednesday, American Sydney McLaughlin won the gold medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles event at the Olympic Games, setting a new world record in the process.
McLaughlin finished in 51.46 seconds, while Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and world champion, finished in 51.58 seconds to win the silver.
McLaughlin finished in 51.46 seconds, while Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and world champion, finished in 51.58 seconds to win the silver.
McLaughlin, who is only 21 years old, set a new world record with her 51.90second performance at the US trials in Oregon in June.
Muhammad, at age 31, and Bol, at age 24, both squeezed under the previous record time, while both were only fractions of a second away from breaking the 52-second mark.
After a superbly clever race in which 2016 champion Muhammad got out to a fast start in the lane outside her compatriot and challenger, McLaughlin came out on top.
Conclusion
Five years after competing for Team USA as a youngster in Rio, the 21-year-old American hurdler ran 51.46, beating 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, to win gold.
Muhammad made an early surge to the lead and was still in the lead after the final hurdle, but her closing pace was no match for McLaughlin’s.
Muhammad broke the previous world record with his time of 51.58 and won the silver medal for the United States. In the end, Femke Bol of the Netherlands took bronze with a time of 52.03.
