Sydney McLaughlin-Leverone releases a 13-minute film on her 2023 season opener

She's one of my favorite track athletes but I don't have 13 minutes to watch it. I

My only thoughts on Syd right now is that I wish she raced more and hope that she makes it to the starting line in NYC this upcoming weekend.

Thanks for sharing. I think it’s cool. Athlete features like this help to promote the sport.

Here are some of my thoughts on the video:

1. It’s great to get a glimpse of the human emotional side of being an elite professional athlete. I found it inspiring and reassuring that she gets the pre-race jitters just like the rest of us. It also makes her more relatable.

2. I disagree with your notion that a season opener shouldn’t be a big deal for a WR holder. The fact that she’s a WR holder is precisely what makes it a much bigger deal than an ordinary athlete’s opener. Sydney was one of the headliners for that meet. The expectations, hopes, and hype surrounding that race were much greater for Sydney’s opener than they were for, say, Kendall Ellis’ opener.

3. The video confirmed that Kersee wanted her to get out hard the first 200 in that race.

4. Looks like she has a great relationship with her husband. They are a beautiful couple.

I've always seen Sydney as either a totally unbeatable bada$$ baller annihilator of competition and records, OR a bit a of a diva headcase who makes things way more complicated than they need to be.

It's easy to forget she's only 23 and has been on the global running scene since age 13. And after the four world records during 13 months, expectations and pressure for every single race are sky high. I think she needs to get defeated a couple times by Bol, go through a dark low point, and come back stronger than ever after overcoming her current performance anxiety.

Race day (obviously discounting global finals) is only a big deal for her since she races twice per year.

I generally hate these kind of things, like LeBron's "The Decision", and I'm not going to watch this, but at the same time this is how sports like the NFL can make something as boring as the NFL draft into a major event that people tune in to. I guess this leaves me wondering why USATF can't seem to market itself when all you need is some good filmmakers. SML has it figured out, when is USATF gonna get a clue?

Regarding Syd and the anxiety about openers, this is what happens when you almost never race. Seems to be a plague with some athletes. What's wrong with losing once in a while? Not everyone is Edwin Moses or Herb Elliott. Most of the best athletes take a loss once in a while and/or have a bad race. Just get used to it and then you don't worry about your performance every time out there. Sometimes it doesn't come together. It starts to be a problem when you consistently blow it in key races and championships. So far SML has those aced.

Having said that, everyone is different so I guess this is just how she rolls. I hope she will continue to have a successful career.

Yep, yep, yep. How many golden thoughts... : )

But do you know what search is and what does it mean to be repetitive? First forum's page on desktop:

My thoughts were Kersee is a controlling jerk, jeeze I really hope Mu gets away from him. Mu's antics this year start to make sense.

I found the video nauseating.

I'm not interested in your BS "I don't know what event I'll run in Budapest yet". I'm not interested in your public displays of religion. I'm not interested in your insecurities & needing your husbands approval. I'm not interested in seeing how you are controlled by your coach and by your husband.

Just get on the track and get racing You'd think she was the only person ever to face pressure, have the weight of expectation on their shoulders, or run the 400m. They made it sound like it was the most complicated event ever, or the most dramatic switch from running hurdles to flat. GIVE. ME. A. BREAK.

Did her husband have to keep banging on that she'd lost?

A lot of projection going on in this thread. Thankful for her giving us a window into her season. She turned a 49 second race into a 13 minute experience for her fans to get to know her a little bit more. That's a good thing! Hope there is more like this to come.

I haven't watched the video & may not get around to it although she is one of my favorite track & field athletes. Thought on Sydney: when she was 16 years old working on making the USA Olympic team, I thought she would never have a professional career because she so obviously had so much anxiety. She will be fine.

One other thought. It's clear she likes being told what to do.

She likes submitting to a higher authority - religion, husband, coach. I couldn't believe her husband met her after the race and basiclally said, "Ok get up. Let's not show weakness. Let's go do the post-race interviews." Thats' something 99% of athletes just do on there own.

Yes, your take is ridiculous. Was that what you were asking?

A great video to watch and it gives a lot of insight in a short moment of how an athlete in their prime have to try and keep it together mentally. Asking for encouragement from the person that's very significant in your life is not a sign of insecurity. This video also displays why Galen Rupp avoids the questions and media. The critics questions about losing and "performances not good enough " effects an athlete tremendously when they're trying to stay focused on having confidence in their training and that progress comes with discipline. A quality video during her prime with great insight. But all posts and videos are free game for the savages. Hopefully the savages can appreciate the narrative of the video. It's a great video and I appreciate the person for discovering and sharing it.

LOOOOOL THERE IS NO WAY SHE IS THAT TONE DEAF

AND SHE'S ANOTHER DELUDED, INDOCTRINATED RELIGIOUS NUT 🤮🤮🤮

Arrogance Personified

Another Salazar.

Feels like Sydney is wayyy too meta, way too in her own head, worried about what she should be thinking about, worried about how she should present herself. Even in the video when she's got a moment "alone" with her husband (not really alone since the cameras are rolling and we're seeing it now), he's telling her how to feel "be humble". She's a little old for that... she should know who she is by now and just be herself, naturally. She should know what she believes is good and what she believes is bad and she should be comfortable as long as she's doing what she believes is good. It feels like there's some conflict there.

And I did not intend to make this about her religion, but I feel like the great Christian athletes are the ones who harness faith to bolster their confidence and belief in themselves. But there's this other side to Christianity where we are all sinners and fighting against our true natures, which causes some Christians to fail to ever just be themselves, and it feels like that's where she's at.

The tone of this video, imo, is indulging a flawed mindset that she'd do better to change.