McLaughlin-Levrone cracks 48 seconds in historically fast 400 at the worlds
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Japan Athletics Worlds United States' Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, reacts after winning in the women's 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Abbie Parr/AP)
Japan Athletics Worlds United States' Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone races to the gold medal in the women's 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae) (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Hiro Komae/AP)
Japan Athletics Worlds United States' Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, crosses the finish line to win in the women's 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Abbie Parr/AP)
TOKYO (AP) — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack 48 seconds in the 400 meters Thursday, finishing in 47.78 in an historically fast one-lap race at the world championships.
McLaughlin-Levrone had company. Second-place finisher Marileidy Paulino clocked 47.98 on the rain-slickened track in Tokyo.
They were the second and third-fastest times in history, behind only the 47.60 run by East Germany's Marita Koch in 1985 — one of the last remaining vestiges of an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed decades after it ended.
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