McLaughlin-Levrone sets world’s fastest of year in 400m hurdles

Miami Beach, United States: Two-time reigning Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the 400-meter hurdles with the fastest time in the world this year at the Grand Slam Track series Miami meet on Saturday.

The 25-year-old American won in 52.07 seconds with Jamaica´s Andrenette Knight second in 54.08 in a wind of 1.3 m/sec. “There´s some stuff to clean up but I´m happy with where my fitness is,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “For my second race of the year, I´m happy.”

McLaughlin-Levrone, who added a 2022 world title to her Olympic gold medals from Tokyo and Paris, broke her own world record last August in capturing the title in France with a run of 50.37.

American Jacory Patterson won the men´s 400m in a 2025 world-best time of 43.98 seconds with Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago second in 44.32 with a 1.3 m/sec wind. Patterson, third in the event at world indoors at Nanjing in March, set a personal best in the victory from lane eight.

“Lane helped me a lot because I didn´t feel anything,” Patterson said. “I was just able to run my own race.” Patterson, who loads trucks on the overnight shift for a delivery service, achieved his main desire.

“The goal was to come out here and make some money so I could just focus on training and quit that job,” he said. Winning, Patterson said, gives him “confidence, momentum. We´re going to keep working, keep that ball rolling.”

American Kenny Bednarek, the 200m runner-up at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and 2022 world championships, captured the men´s 100 in a wind-aided 9.79 seconds with Jamaica´s Oblique Seville second in 9.84, both with a +2.4 m/sec wind assist meaning the time cannot be counted for record purposes. “Emotions are high. I knew I was capable of winning times like this,” Bednarek said. “This was a pretty good race. I´m dangerous.”