After Cameo in Boston, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Plans to Compete More on European Circuit in 2023
McLaughlin-Levrone says she hasn’t trained much with Athing Mu
By LetsRun.com
February 4, 2023
The headline athlete at the 2023 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix — at least from a New Balance perspective — was Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder and World and Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone’s time competing in Boston was very short as she ran 7.33 seconds in her 60-meter debut and finished 5th in her heat in a race that took place before the live TV window on NBC. She failed to advance to the final and she said today’s race was geared towards breaking up training more than anything.
Afterwards, McLaughlin-Levrone spoke to the media and outlined her 2023 plans in more detail.
Not Training Much With Athing Mu
McLaughlin-Levrone got a big addition to her training group in the offseason when Athing Mu moved to Los Angeles to train under her coach Bobby Kersee. McLaughlin-Levrone and Mu have history together, winning Olympic gold as members of Team USA’s 4×400 relay in Tokyo, but so far McLaughlin-Levrone says they haven’t trained together much.
“We train around the same time but we haven’t done many workouts together, no,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “I think Bobby’s keeping us separate in our respective spaces. There will be times down the line as the season progresses that we’ll probably be together but right now he just kind of has [Athing in the] 800 and [me] where I’m at and if we come together, we come together.”
Speaking of coming together, there is the chance McLaughlin-Levrone and Mu could clash in the open 400m if they both attempt to run it in addition to their primary events. But McLaughlin-Levrone was not certain what event she will run at Worlds and said she would leave that to Kersee. She said nothing is off the table at this point.
Good News for Fans – More European Races Planned for McLaughlin-Levrone
The best news for track and field fans is that McLaughlin-Levrone plans to compete more on the European circuit this year. After Worlds wrapped on July 24 last year, she ran one race, in Hungary on August 8, then called it a year.
“Just a long season,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “We kind of just wanted to shut it down. I hadn’t gone on my honeymoon. That was a big part of it. I was just like, I want my season to be done so I can go enjoy married life. So that was the main thing.”
This year, SML said she plans to race more Diamond Leagues – something she hasn’t done since 2019.
“This year, we’ll be more in Europe on the circuit, doing all that…we’ve always been more refined in what we choose to do but after last year we kind of figured out our rhythm of things and now we’ll be able to branch out a little more.”
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