Sydney gets destroyed!

upon further review, based on the cutout of her midsole shown while she was in the set position that she was wearing some version of the long distance spike with a non-perforated/grey upper

she was definitely well on pace to run sub 49, she just blew up the last 100m

I think she has 48.5 in the tank. But until I see a better run out of her I am not banking on a sub 48 this season

The Lord will reward those who are faithful to his cause.

Sydney will return where she belongs: on the top of the podium.

I think this is a lot more promising than people are saying. She has barely raced. If she can finesse her last 100m, or not even finesse it, just race herself into fitness and hang on, I think we could see something quite spectacular.

I certainly am not ruling her out based on this one race.

Honestly with Kersee’s antics, I could see him having her run in less aggressive distance spikes to preserve her legs for a long season. Put her in aggressive sprint spikes at WC’s later on.

No. She ran fine. It’s way easier to go out hard and work on the second half of the race than to go out too slow, never push yourself, and improve.

She gave herself a chance. She was on 47 mid to low pace through 200. 22.66 split I read. Maybe someday she’ll do it again and hold it better.

And this was still a PR for her.

First race of the season, that was a good effort.

She is currently 3rd in NCAA with that performance. The weird part is that she didn’t have enough strength to finish the race. Speed improves over the course of the season. She should be strong right now.

Do you think that perhaps this was the strategy she was working on? I.e. go out as hard as you can and let's see how long you can hold it for and then we will adjust your training. Is that possible?

It was silly to think she would run a 48 in her first race, not having run a race for almost a year. That she ran 49.7 in her first race is damn remarkable.

She is going to have to go all out from the gun if she wants the WR

As a sprinter - the 400m race specific endurance can really only be trained/replicated by racing

She has the speed (22.66 through 200m? yeah she got it), now she just needs a few more 400m races under her belt. She needs to come through 300m in 34 seconds to get a good crack at the WR

F*ck this. She went for it in a regular season meet. She tested her fitness and came up short. I want athletes to take risks. What it did show is she needs to race more. She could have tested her fitness at the LA Grand Prix then come to Paris and run 48.xx but her coach is a genius, apparently

I've said it before on here and I'll say it again, Sydney is not fast enough to get anywhere near Koch's WR. As fast as Sydney looked today for the first half of this race she was still a half second behind where Koch was at the 200m mark in her 400m record run, and Sydney was totally gassed from it. Koch regularly raced over 100m and 200m, and was the WR for 200m for ten years.

In general I don't think women's speed endurance is as good as men's, so for a woman to be able to run 47.60 for the 400 they are going to have to run the first 200 faster than a man would to run the same time, just as Koch did. We likely need a woman that can run the 200 in 21.6 or faster to break Koch's record. Sydney could spend a whole season running the 100 and 200 and I'm not sure she would ever get down to that kind of time. It's funny how all these women are almost 1.5 seconds away from the world record and people are talking about it like it's under threat, it's never been safer in all these years.

Keyboard warrior.

And who *would* have the strength to finish this race with a 22.67 first 200? If someone competently finished off that split it'd be between 47.6 and 48 low. There's no reason she should be able to do that in her first race in 5 years.

Good gawd. I'm not even a fan. I hope Paulino, Britton Wilson et. al. stay ahead of her. But she lost to world's best in her season opener. I do think that if she chooses to pursue the 400, she won't have the same dominance she's had in the hurdles. The 400 flat just isn't that kind of event. There's no Edwin Moses of the 400.

I tend to agree that 22.6 is too fast for her first 200. She was probably going close to full out but not quite. If she goes out closer to 23.0 and then really guts out the last 200, that would probably be better for her.

General rule is 200m PR + 1 second for your first 200 of a 400. Hard to see Sydney being in even 22.0 shape right now, but she’s got a lot of speed too

Nah. 21.7-21.8 is more than enough speed to break it. But it will also require a lot of strength. But yes that’s the weak point for McLaughlin. Obviously the strength is well past where it needs to be based off her 400 hurdles times, it’s just a matter of pacing and using the energy optimally

Going after the WR when your PB is over 50 is premature.

Before the meet in an interview she was going into this as a tune up. I don't think she's that upset.

Well said, thanks, that puts it in proper perspective.