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Pulverized the world record over 400 meters hurdles: Sydney McLaughlin
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
The moderator of the press conference was in a particularly good mood after the women's 400-meter hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene.
In a euphoric voice, she announced that "the world record had been improved by 0.73 seconds".
Walked by the woman sitting in the middle of the podium: Sydney McLaughlin.
The American had just written athletics history.
In an incredible 50.68 seconds she ran to gold.
It was her fourth world record in 390 days - and it was the first run under 51 seconds.
"I always thought a time of 50 seconds was doable," said third-place Dalilah Muhammad, who was sitting next to McLaughlin.
"Now," the American continues, "I think 49 seconds is possible - for Sydney."
As of June 27, 2021, Muhammad still held the world record (52.16 seconds).
Since then, McLaughlin has pushed the mark down 1.48 seconds.
Previously, the hurdle world had needed 16 years for the 18 hundredths from 52.34 (Julyja Petschonkina/2003) to 52.16 (Muhammad/2019).
McLaughlin is now an Olympic champion, a world record holder and finally a world champion.
At 22 years old.
Whoever dominates like this needs new goals.
Her coach, Bob Kersee, had said beforehand that if McLaughlin became world champion, their next goal would be to break the world record in the 400 meters.
McLaughlin herself wouldn't confirm that after her gold, but said she'd already been looking at "other things" with Kersee.
"Bobby always comes up with new ideas," says McLaughlin.
Of course, a change to the 400 meters would require a different training, but everything is possible.
»I leave that entirely to my coach.«
A world record from the dark days of athletics
Perhaps Kersee and McLaughlin should take some time to reconsider the merits of setting the stadium lap world record as a new goal.
There are some records in athletics that are considered untouchable.
Which are carved in stone - and which, despite improved training methods, lighter shoes and the latest running surfaces with a supposedly spring-supporting effect, simply nobody can match.
Times that were established when, for example, there was a proven state-sponsored doping system in the GDR.
In which controls for performance-enhancing drugs were extremely patchy.
And in which many a positive sample mysteriously disappeared.
The world record over the 400 meters for women is a prime example of these "forbidden world records": Run by Marita Koch for the GDR on October 6, 1985 at the World Cup in Canberra.
47.60 seconds.
A time like a rock.
Immovable.
And everyone who has tried it so far has bounced off without a chance.
Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain came closest.
She ran to World Championship gold three years ago in 48.14 seconds.
The 24-year-old was unable to defend her title in Eugene.
She was banned for two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June 2021.
Naser had violated the reporting obligation for doping tests.
All results retroactive to November 25, 2019 have been removed.
Koch has always denied having used illicit drugs.
A 2010 Deutschlandfunk report said that Koch had said on GDR television in 1986 that she was "always asked about the causes of the GDR's sporting miracle at international starts".
And that some believe that "they can discover a special secret here." She added that "this so-called secret is a completely normal thing: the socialism that actually exists in our workers' and peasants' state."
Maximum anabolic steroid dose of 1460 milligrams per year
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, anti-doping expert Werner Franke was given access to countless previously top-secret files on East German state doping.
Based on these documents, he was able to prove that Koch was given anabolic steroids.
Franke's wife, Brigitte Berendonk, reported in her book "Doping - from research into fraud" that Koch had received the maximum dose of anabolic steroids of 1460 milligrams per year during the GDR era.
Two other critically regarded age-old world records are those of Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 100 meters (10.49 seconds) and 200 meters (21.34 seconds).
"Flo-Jo" ran both records in 1988. Within just one year, she had improved by 0.57 (100 meters) and 0.62 seconds (200 meters).
Her amazing increase in performance, coupled with visible muscle growth and a deepening voice, was seen by many as evidence of anabolic steroid use.
Griffith-Joyner surprisingly announced the end of her career shortly after her three gold medals in Seoul.
She died in autumn 1998 at the age of only 38.
By the way, your longtime trainer was: Bob Kersee.