Sydney McLaughlin dumps Floreal: beginning of the end?

rojo wrote:

It drives me nuts that people act like Felix is the greatest US sprinter ever as she's on the 4 x100s and 4 x 400s and won so many golds.

C'mon, man. Felix has won 11 medals (5 golds) in individual events at the Olympics and Worlds. Throw in all her relay medals, and she has 26. That's a pretty impressive haul for anyone. She may not be the greatest U.S. sprinter ever, but she is in the discussion.

Everyone on here can say what you want to about Sydney and her personality, and where she is with her talent level right now. However, she just signed with perhaps the most high profile agency and a very nice lucrative contract and you're still trolling on let'srun. com. Looks to me like it's easy to figure out who has it figured out and some direction about her future.

ex-runner wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

I guess the 400h is the low hanging fruit, she is the best in the world right now. However, if the trend continues she could be competing for medals in the flat 400 in the next 2 years and who would choose to run the hurdles over a flat race? The way it works is, athletes gravitate to the easiest event they can have success at.

400 hurdles for women is a very similar situation to the steeple record we just saw go down.

The hurdles are teeny tiny. You just need a girl who is actually fast over the flat 400 - 49 second runner. Then the record will be low 51.

I agree the women's hurdles are ridiculously low, but never-the-less they are in your lane and it still requires a rhythm and technique to get over them. However, all things being somewhat equal, the athlete with the best 400m flat speed will win. I will add that being a strength-based sprinter also helps a little, but not as much as people think. The 400 hurdles aren't as tough and as strength-based, as most people think; 400 hurdlers generally don't have any better endurance than a 400m sprinter. I know 400 hurdlers who say the flat 400 hurts just as much, if not more. Btw, there are far more 400 sprinters who are good at the 800 than there are 400 hurdles. Contrary to popular belief, most 400 hurdlers are not converted 400 sprinters, they are usually converted high hurdlers who aren't winning races. With that said, if someone like Wayde van Niekerk focused on the 400 hurdles, the world record would be 45x or in the case of Shaunae Miller-Uibo, 51x. This is why I think Sydney, Samba and Benjamin will all break the 400 hurdle record in the next year or two.

You have to wonder if Sydney is getting too caught up in becoming a star and not as focused as she should be on being a great track athlete.

She ran a 52.75 at the age of 18. The world record is 52.34 . That’s a 0.41 difference. In an event like the 400 m hurdles there are so many different little things that you can improve on to lower your time and her body will not mature and peak until she’s 22. It’s not like a short sprint where you lose legs speed after a certain age and you can only improve things at the margins..

If you follow her on social media you know that she has huge family support and she has a very outgoing personality, much more so than Allyson Felix. So if she stays consistent with her training she should break the world record by the time Tokyo 2020 rolls around, assuming she stays injury free.

It is hard to remain a fan when the idol disappears. Where has she been all season?

Imagine that Tokyo final between Rai Benjamin and Samba. Lit!!!

Her looks people. The world has not had a sprinter this talented and photogenic at the same time since Flojo. When is the last time you’ve seen a model tearing up the track?

Mombojom wrote:

Her looks people. The world has not had a sprinter this talented and photogenic at the same time since Flojo. When is the last time you’ve seen a model tearing up the track?

Allyson Felix

Predictor wrote:

It is hard to remain a fan when the idol disappears. Where has she been all season?

Please define this "season" that she has been missing from. I can't think of a single race she has missed that she should have done in the past 3 months.

Predictor wrote:

It is hard to remain a fan when the idol disappears. Where has she been all season?

lol it's Cross Country season or fall marathon season. What races were u hoping to see her in?

TrackCoach wrote:

In global championship races, athletes with poor technique tend to do worst.

Tell that to the Kenyan Steeplers

TrackCoach wrote:

No disrespect to Coach Flo, but in terms of technique,l Sydney is only marginally better than H.S. The only major difference I notice is Sydney being able to hurdle with her left leg, but she still runs high over the hurdles and she still chops. She still seems to be experimenting and for the most part, Sydney is great at the 400h because she is great at the 400 dash. In global championship races, athletes with poor technique tend to do worst.

How'd that poor technique thing work out for Kerron Clement?

Easy answer here wrote:

Mombojom wrote:

Her looks people. The world has not had a sprinter this talented and photogenic at the same time since Flojo. When is the last time you’ve seen a model tearing up the track?

Allyson Felix

No

No wrote:

Easy answer here wrote:

Allyson Felix

No

Yes.

Felix has it all, and has made a lot of money based on incredible athletic ability combined with a salable look.

Didn't she withdraw from the USA Championships and not run any Diamond League Events? Seems that she hasn't raced since May. Sowinski raced like 20 times since she has so I think there was a season.

Signing with WME is an a big deal. I can't really think of any other female track and field athlete that has a bigger contract than Sydney right now or in the past. WME can see the marketing potential of Sydney McLaughlin beyond track and field and they have positioned her perfectly. I'm betting that she was advised to skip USA outdoors just to minimize injury risk and generate more hype and interest during contract negotiations. So far her management has been genius.

I agree with Douglas_Burke, her talent level is exceptional. With the good coaching and discipline, world records and gold medals are eminent.

However, the enormous contract money and the WME connection is actually what makes things dicey. WME has a lot of celebrity connections and I suspect that if she relocates to train with a coach in California that the lure of celebrity and parties may be too much to resist for a 19yr old. WME will have her on tons of magazine covers before you even know it.

All that being said, if the ultimate objective is money, her performance doesn't really matter. She'll make the more money on the circuit as the Anna Kournikova of Track and Field than anyone else. Kournikova was never ranked higher than #8 in the world and never made it past the semi-finals of a grandslam tournament.

Mombojom wrote:

Her looks people. The world has not had a sprinter this talented and photogenic at the same time since Flojo. When is the last time you’ve seen a model tearing up the track?

Colleen Quigley over the summer.

Quigley is ok, but Sydney is more talented for her specified event. She ran the 9th fastest time in history with her 52.75 and she was only 18. Phenom. If we are just going by looks, Georgia Ellenwood an NCAA heptathlon champ, and Mikaela Smith of USC - 800m runner. Google them.