I know the hurdles are shorter than the men’s but this is probably as good as Marita Koch’s 47.60, don’t you think? I don’t mean that Sydney can run 47.60 but her 400h is as good.
Probably, that time would be the 182nd fastest time for the MEN in the 400 hurdles this year. That's out of 3564 athletes recorded. So sydney is in the 95th percentile of top level MALE athletes in the event (yes I know the male hurdles are slightly taller, but it's still crazy).
As a comparison the 95th percentile for the 5000m this season is 13:34 and for the 400m it's 46.71.
I know the hurdles are shorter than the men’s but this is probably as good as Marita Koch’s 47.60, don’t you think? I don’t mean that Sydney can run 47.60 but her 400h is as good.
Honestly, I believe that for years the 400m hurdles for women was a vastly underdeveloped event primarily due to lack of depth and talent and to the degree it was at least 25-30 years behind the mens hurdles event.
It really was a case of sub-elite female 400m runners going to the hurdles - we have not had an all time great in the event until Sydney (in terms of overall T&F) whereas we had this on the mens side in the mid 80's with Edwin Moses who is still in the stratosphere of all time great male athletes irrespective of the event.
What we have now is basically the best womens running talent across any event doing the 400m hurdles and one that would probably win the 400m flat if she wanted to. She has a contemporary in Bol that is also an elite talent capable of medaling in the 400m flat, that even though she didn't run well tonight, is still a big part in keeping SML motivated and always needing to be at her best.
Even with Kevin Youngs 46.78 from 92, the mens record - even with the considerably higher hurdles (a foot) was 3.75 seconds off the flat WR (and less at the time). The womens WR should have been in the same ballpark which should have had it around the 51.3/4 range (and I get the 47.60 doping argument but was it really different on the mens side?) instead the record sat in the 52's as late as 2019 (!!!) - the parity was way off.
Now we have the mens WR 2.91 seconds off the WR and the womens as of today, 2.77 seconds. Even if we assume the womens 400m flat time should be more like 48.00, that puts us at about 2.4 seconds which given the hurdle height and given McLaughlins elite talent, seems about right. Remember Warholm isn't the same level of talent over the 400m flat that SML is - this would be like Matthew Hudson Smith having the same ability over the hurdles as he does on the flat - the record would be also under 45.5 seconds.
So this has just been a really catch-up in terms of the events evolution - I don't think it's actually that crazy and certainly the fact that she breaks the WR every time she runs the event seriously should point us in that direction because there are other great talents in the sport that just can't do this and also, this won't go on forever for her. That's how!
This post was edited 32 seconds after it was posted.
Probably, that time would be the 182nd fastest time for the MEN in the 400 hurdles this year. That's out of 3564 athletes recorded. So sydney is in the 95th percentile of top level MALE athletes in the event (yes I know the male hurdles are slightly taller, but it's still crazy).
As a comparison the 95th percentile for the 5000m this season is 13:34 and for the 400m it's 46.71.
It's an invalid comparison. The male hurdles are not "slightly taller," they are much, much taller (6 inches). Until Syd can run this time over male hurdles, her times cannot be compared to male times. How fast would Rai run over women's hurdles? 44?
The men's hurdles are only 6" higher than the women's. 36" vs. 30".
You are right - I was honestly just being hapzard with that statement (I knew it wasn't exactly a foot) but that is quite considerable - my bad. Thanks for pointing out.
It doesn't change for me the ultimate point about how the extra height in the mens hurdles should neutralize the actual hurdling and so we should have an approximately equal time differential between the mens and womens 400>400H, which we now do thanks to SML.
I think it's the superb form to the point there is very little discrepancy between 400m and 400mh. She is making it to the point she is taking small up movement/stride over the hurdles and waste very little energy/time.
The men's hurdles are only 6" higher than the women's. 36" vs. 30".
6 inches have determined many a person’s fate. Those 6 inches are a big deal.
hurdles are designed to be half as tall as the runner, so you should double the difference to get the real equivalent by height. Men aren't that much taller on average
When is WA going to move it to 33"? - long overdue. Make it a real hurdles race. Before
next year, so they'll have 3 yrs to get used to it before LA 2028. Also, move 100H to 36".
Equally overdue! The old 30" & 33" lists would be kept with the new, two columns, with an accurate, fair conversion factor that all the experts(& hurdlers) can agree on.
And, for perspective on SML 50.36... a Russian ran 50.4 (36", dirt track, heavier shoes) in 1953.
It is ironic that the girl's WRs from the sprints - 400m and everything above 3000m are so good, but then you look at the 800m-1500m distances between, and the times there are weak in comparison.