The world’s highest-paid track and field woman is too good for her sport under its current rules, writes journalist Atte Husu from Hayward Field.
OREGON. Sydney McLaughlin is not only a world record holder on the track, but is also a forge of dollars. According to Urheilu’s international track and field information source, McLaughlin made around three million dollars just the moment he signed the contract with his shoe brand.
At least Usain Bolt didn’t get the same amount as the fastest person in history when he signed his shoe contract, which nevertheless became the most expensive Jamaican made on the track in history.
Before Bolt’s breakthrough in the summer of 2008, the world record for 100 meters was set at 9.74. Bolt dropped 0.16 seconds from that in just over a year. It is 1.6 percent.
On Saturday, McLaughlin ran a new 400-meter hurdles world record of 50.68 at Hayward Field, bettering his previous record by 0.73 seconds. McLaughlin has planed his ground By Dalilah Muhammad An incredible 1.48 seconds of ME per year, or 2.8 percent. So he washes Bolt by this measure as well.
When McLaughlin crossed the finish line, it became clear in the stadium that the most exciting moment of the Games had been witnessed. All credit to the Swedish rod prodigy who is still waiting for his turn For Armand Duplantisbut there is no similar reaction from the stadium crowd, even if Duplantis raises the ME height ten centimeters higher than the current one – which he obviously won’t do, because it’s not part of the sport’s playbook.
The show is missing
McLaughlin is a revolutionary athlete who is changing his sport irrevocably. As a record improvement, ME was one hundredth harder than Karsten Warholm in the men’s equivalent trip at the Tokyo Olympics a year ago.
In the women’s long fences, ME last time lost more than 0.73 seconds in 1977, when the Soviet Union Tatiana Storozheva ran 55.74 and bettered the Pole by Krystyna Kacperczyk ME readings of 0.77 seconds. The sport entered the prestigious competitions only in 1978.
Only about Finnish women Riitta Salin (50,14) and Pirjo Häggman (50.56) have run 400 meters faster than McLaughlin. That is, without fences.
McLaughlin’s margin of victory was 1.59 seconds. In the name of honesty: you can’t even check the history of this winning margin over long distances, but you could bet on the final result.
So is McLaughlin already one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time? In terms of results, yes, but from the point of view of selling the sport, he is not in the same galaxy as Bolt – despite the contract money. McLaughlin has none of the Bolt-like show elk. The same applies to interviews, where the stakes are really tight.
McLaughlin is only 22 years old, so the athletics world may see another side of his star, but his current presence does not offer miracles off the track.
Is the fence height correct?
In addition to the women’s long hurdles, the 400-meter hurdles were also contested on Friday night at Hayward Field. If you can make a wish for the organizers with the future games in mind: not in the future, if the height of the fence is not changed.
The women’s smooth and fenced laps were evenly split 35 minutes apart, and McLaughlin would have finished seventh in a true smooth final – 0.93 seconds shy of a medal.
When McLaughlin would be on the same front with the fences as the other finalists in the Final Four, one has to ask if the women’s fence height (76.2 centimeters) is sufficient. The answer is no when it comes to McLaughlin.
In the same breath, it must be stated that McLaughlin is an absolutely superior individual in his sport, whose development will by no means continue similar to what has been seen now. The American star is in the shape of his life at a young age, so talking about going under 50 seconds is utter madness.
If McLaughlin succeeds in that, after that the talk of an all-time all-around athlete can be stopped.