Why no Sydney Mclaughlin at PreFontaine Classic?

LMAO at all the dweebs here saying this is her job and it's how she makes money so she should be racing. She has a predicted NW of $2 million at 22. She doesn't need to do sh*t! She can make more than most peoples' salaries just from dividends. If I was her I'd take a month off.

ronnybfree wrote:

Why no Sydney Mclaughlin at PreFontaine Classic?

Because Nike didn't want her there.

The bottom line: Track meets are like sausages: It's better not to know how they are made.

Honestly, it's a real shame to have that talent and not like to race except in trials and championships. You don't love the sport, why should the sport love you? She should be out there racing other events where she can be internationally competitive, expanding her range, 200-400, and yes, of course, 800m baby!

okaywantkababi wrote:

She's the fastest model in the world.

Gabby Thomas advantage on the model side. Also NB...interesting.

Props to Muhammad for cranking yet another 52 with no one pushing her. It looks like she has at least another good season left. Unlike athletes like Ajee and Emma who are looking shaky.

triptoe wrote:

RunRaider wrote:

Horrible analogy. If Tom Brady’s Buccaneers had a first round bye headed into the playoffs, do you think we’d see him in the last regular season game of the season? Zero chance.

If his team is up >20pts with a quarter to go, would Brady “tough it out” and play through garbage time? Absolutely not.

Running against DM and Little is garbage time? Do you disagree that Sydney attracts fans and that Pre is the most-watched professional meet of the year on US soil?

Yes, absolutely! Syd has raced Delilah twice in two months. One of those races was on “US soil,” on the exact same track, in fact. There’s nothing significant to be gained by flying out to Pre to do it again.

I’m completely in favor of a schedule and incentive system that would cause athletes to race more. It doesn’t change the fact that the most important meet in five years already took place this month. Athletes are always going to rest post-Olympics.

And as others have stated, Syd’s absence likely has as much to do with Nike’s ownership of the meet than anything else.

Also, she has a lot of her plate immediately following the Olympics; she is pretty much the face of NB.

The meet in question is not a US Championship nor does it have any special significance for Sydney other than being a Diamond League meet. If Sydney were chasing diamond league points and wanted some kind of DL title, then she would have run. But in an olympic year where she just won the gold medal and set the WR, winning the DL does not carry much significance. Thus, she could tell Nike that if they wanted her at this meet, they had to pay her appearance fees. Otherwise she had little to gain by appearing.

Also, to prior posters' points, Sydney is flush with money. She was signed out of college for a huge figure. She has WME as her branding agency and Wes Felix as her track agent. And again because she won gold at Tokyo and set the WR, there are likely massive bonuses (that become permanent increases to her annual endorsement fee) coming from New Balance. I wouldn't be surprised if the contract does not have any reductions in it (NB is known for not including reductions). This kind of financial flexibility means she is not dependent on a low-ball appearance fee from Nike and she does not need to worry about some minor $30K DL prize - or whatever the athletes win if they capture the discipline title.

What posters should also know is, Nike builds into their contracts a mandatory appearance at either the Penn Relays or the Pre Classic. If a track athlete does not appear, then that athlete may be subject to a reduction. This way, Nike guarantees that at their premiere meets there is a star-studded field of athletes. NB puts this same clause in for the Boston Indoor Grand Prix and I think there is one other meet but I completely forget what it is right now.

She posted a 10 minute video on her IG today:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS7GrUagyHC/

It must be really hard to be a superstar like she is.

ok, I'm going to watch that entire video and report back.

It's going to be tough., but it will be a good exercise for my will-power.

PresidentTrump wrote:

If you are a 400M hurdler it's ridiculous you are not running a major world class 400M Hurdle race in your own country. It takes 50 seconds. It's not a marathon. Look up what professional means. Unless she is injured she should be racing.

Obviously, President Trump, she hates her country. Has hated the USA now as a member of two straight USA teams at the Olympics. She's a wuss for not living up to your expectations, President Trump.

And if she ran a 400m hurdles race in, gasp, 50 seconds, genius, she would have broken her own world record by a mere 1.46 seconds. Yeah, what a coward she is for not toeing the line in Eugene to destroy her own record by that much, in her own country. You say it's not a marathon, Prez. Um, I hate to think what time you'll say it takes to run a marathon.

As much as I hate to say this about her she seems to be just another one of these young America weak @$$ minded individuals. Hate that. Thought she was one of the good ones.

gunk wrote:

Props to Muhammad for cranking yet another 52 with no one pushing her. It looks like she has at least another good season left. Unlike athletes like Ajee and Emma who are looking shaky.

So far Emma has only had one bad race. Before Tokyo she had looked strong. Ajee has not really looked sharp all year.

SnowLover wrote:

She posted a 10 minute video on her IG today:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS7GrUagyHC/

It must be really hard to be a superstar like she is.

She makes things look easy with her running, her looks and people take that for granted and she is upset about it. It's being a victim of your own success and it sucks when it happens, very few people actually experience what she is going through. We don't know the back story but clearly, she felt dissed by some people close to her. Brittany Spears lashed out at her sister a few weeks ago, these are real feelings people are having. Pro Athletes lash out all the time at coaches, teammates, etc.

She didn't owe anyone a run at Eugene, plenty of people didn't go there. MU ran and then said, I am outta here, see you next year and that's fine too.

Syd is at home in Santa Monica on Super Modeling gigs.

Yes, she is paid by New Balance; NOT YOU!!!! She is the world record holder and Olympic gold medalist. She doesn't have to prove a damned thing to you or any one else. As long as New Balance doesn't have a problem with it F' OFF.