US sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone blew past the competition this week, becoming the first women's track athlete to run a sub-48 second 400-meter dash in almost 40 years on Thursday, when she won the event final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist clocked a blistering time of 47.78 seconds, breaking her own US record en route to becoming the new world champion.
Notably, Dominican sprinter Marileidy Paulino — the 400-meter gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics — crossed Thursday's finish line right on McLaughlin-Levrone's heels, joining the US winner in breaking the near-impossible 48-second barrier with a time of 47.98 seconds.
"You don't run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it," said McLaughlin-Levrone afterwards, crediting the impact of the other contenders on her own historic pace.
McLaughlin-Levrone's new time is now the second fastest in the sport's history, trailing only the 1985 world record of 47.60 seconds set by East Germany's Marita Koch.
Thursday's win also marked the 26-year-old's first-ever major international 400-meter flat title after historically dominating the 400-meter hurdles, making McLaughlin-Levrone the only athlete to hold world titles in both races.
"I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this," Bobby Kersee, the sprinter's longtime coach, told The AP. "She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She's just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about."
Five-time Olympic medalist and USA track star Gabby Thomas will miss this month's 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo due to a lingering Achilles injury, the 28-year-old sprinter announced on Tuesday.
Thomas, who captured a full trio of gold medals at the 2024 Paris Games, has been dealing with the injury since May, going on to re-aggravate it in July prior to August's 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships, in which she placed third in her favored 200-meter race — narrowly booking her spot at the World Championships by a mere one-thousandth of a second margin.
"I understand that it will be disappointing for some track fans to hear this news, but I've finally come to the realization that it's OK to be human and take care of myself," she said in a statement.
"As an athlete you always want to keep grinding, but sometimes you simply can't outwork an injury," Thomas explained. "Sometimes it's about patience and making the right decision for the long term. All the best to my Team USA teammates fighting for medals in Tokyo."
As one of Team USA's top talents in the 200-meter dash as well as the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays, Thomas plans to return to competition in 2026.
The 2025 Prefontaine Classic shattered world records on Saturday, as a pair of long- and middle-distance runners showed their class in a historic track and field meet.
On a day that international governing body World Athletics called the sport's best-ever single-day of competition — with the 2025 Prefontaine Classic seeing more performance points earned than in any other one-day meet in track and field history — two Kenyan stars rose above the rest.
Saturday saw Faith Kipyegon hit a personal best of 3:48.68 in the 1,500-meter race to break through her own world record by a 0.36-second margin.
The 31-year-old, who holds the last three Olympic titles in the event, claimed the new historic time less than two weeks removed from her first attempt to break the four-minute mile mark — a distance just 109 meters farther than the standard 1,500-meter race.
The Prefontaine Classic also saw fellow Kenyan Beatrice Chebet become the first woman to race 5,000 meters in under 14 minutes, with the 25-year-old breaking the barrier by turning in a world record time of 13:58.06 — shaving more than two seconds off Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay's previous world mark of 14:00.21.
"I'm so happy," Chebet said afterward. "After [the June Diamond League meet in] Rome, I say that I am capable of running a world record so let me go back home and prepare… I told myself, 'if Faith [Kipyegon] is trying for a world record in Eugene, why not me too?'"
Along with the 5,000-meter mark, Chebet also holds the 10,000-meter record — as well as 2024 Olympic gold medals in both events.
Meanwhile, US hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone snagged sprinting headlines with a season-best time of 49.43 seconds to win the 400-meter flat race, continuing her progress as a flat runner after years dominating the 400-meter hurdles.
Three-time 1,500-meter Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipyegon fell just short of making running history on Thursday, as the middle-distance star clocked a time of 4:06.42 in her attempt to become the first woman to break the four-minute mile.
"It was the first trial. I have proven that it's possible and it's only a matter of time. I think it will come to our way," said Kipyegon following Thursday's race. "If it's not me, it will be somebody else."
Still the fastest mile-runner of any woman in history, the Kenyan icon did beat her own previous world record of 4:07.64 by 1.22 seconds, though the time won't count as a new record as the race came during Nike's unofficial Breaking4 event.
With full support from the sportswear giant — the 31-year-old's partner for 16 years — Kipyegon had the benefit of multiple pace-setters, as well as an aerodynamic suit, 3D-printed Nike FlyWeb sports bra, and spiked shoes made specifically for the much-hyped four-minute mile attempt at Paris's Stade Charléty.
"Faith didn't just make history, she proved the future of sport is faster, stronger, and more inclusive than ever," noted Nike president Amy Montagne after Kipyegon's race.
"It was tough, but I am so proud of what I've done, and I'm going to keep on trying, dreaming and pursing big goals," said Kipyegon. "I want to show the world, and especially women, that you have to dare to try."
Georgia outdoor track and field won their first-ever NCAA championship in style this weekend, finishing the four-day meet with a dominant 73 points to claim the team title by a massive margin of 26 points on Saturday.
Snagging podium finishes with 47 and 43 points, respectively, were silver medalists USC and bronze winners Texas A&M.
The Bulldogs proved impossible to beat, boasting individual champions in the 400-meter dash (junior Aaliyah Butler), the high jump (senior Elena Kulichenko), the hammer throw (grad student Stephanie Ratcliffe) and the 4×400-meter relay — more individual titles than any other school at the meet.
The winning relay team of freshman Michelle Smith, sophomore Sydney Harris, and juniors Butler and Dejanea Oakley particularly impressed, with three of the four taking individual podium spots as well.
Butler — a 2024 US Olympic gold medalist in the 4×400-meter relay — led the aforementioned 400-meter dash, with teammate Oakley securing second-place just behind her.
Meanwhile, Smith bagged bronze in the 400-meter hurdles.
Georgia head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, who previously led three-time champion USC to the Trojans' 2018 and 2021 NCAA titles, is now the only woman to coach two different schools to an outdoor track and field national championship.
"I love these kids. They teach me more about me than I teach them about anything," said an emotional Smith Gilbert during the trophy ceremony. "They worked so hard, and they believed in themselves, and we did it."
Trio of NCAA records crumble at championship meet
While first-time champion Georgia was making team program history, a trio of NCAA women were busy shattering national track and field records this weekend.
First, Washington sophomore Hana Moll became the national pole vault champion with a new NCAA record leap of 4.79 meters on Thursday.
Notably, this was the third time this season that the collegiate pole vault mark was cleared by a Huskie, with Moll's twin sister Amanda breaking the record twice last month.
Then on Saturday, two records fell, with Alabama sophomore Doris Lemngole earning her second straight 3,000-meter steeplechase title in 8:58.15 — the fastest time in NCAA history.
Michigan senior Savannah Sutherland, a 2024 Olympian for Team Canada, closed out the 2025 NCAA record-breaking by dethroning a legend, smashing the 400-meter hurdles mark previously held by now-two-time Olympic individual champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Sutherland's 52.46-second race was 0.29 seconds below McLaughlin-Levrone's collegiate record — and a full 0.8 seconds below Sutherland's own personal best.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone maintained her 400-meter crown this weekend, completing her second straight 400-meter events sweep at the Grand Slam Track series' Miami meet on Sunday.
One month after completing the sweep at the first Grand Slam meet in Kingston, Jamaica, the 25-year-old US track star won Saturday's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.07 seconds before also taking Sunday's 400-meter flat event in 49.69 seconds — a race that earned McLaughlin-Levrone a $100,000 winner's check.
McLaughlin-Levrone has a veritable stranglehold on the 400-meter hurdles, dominating that race since her last loss at the 2019 World Championships.
In that span, she blasted through six world records across 12 straight victories — lowering the women's 400-meter hurdles world standard from 52.16 seconds to a blistering 50.37-second pace.
With two more Grand Slam meets in Philadelphia and LA in the coming weeks, McLaughlin-Levrone is considering a literal change of pace, temporarily switching to run the 100-meter events — a distance she hasn't competed in since 2018.
Should she take on the shorter sprints, McLaughlin-Levrone could find herself racing against the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter hurdles, Masai Russell — who notably posted the second-fastest time in the event's history, not to mention a new US record, by winning in 12.17 seconds on Friday.
How to watch the final two Grand Slam Track meets
McLaughlin-Levrone, Russell, and other track stars will next compete in the third Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia from May 30th through June 1st, before closing out the series in LA between June 27th and June 29th.
All 2025 Grand Slam Track meets stream live on Peacock.
Olympic track and field takes flight today, with a talented Team USA looking to ascend the podium once again.
From early this morning until a few hours before the Closing Ceremony, track and field stars will compete across 48 events in a quest for Olympic glory.
USA track and field shoots for Olympic podium return
In 2021, Team USA led all nations with a collective 26 medals, with athletes competing in women’s events — including Katie Moon (pole vault), Valarie Allman (discus), and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (400-meter hurdles) — responsible for five of the team’s seven golds.
Since then, the squad has only improved, earning 33 and 29 medals at the last two World Athletics Championships respectively, including 12 golds in Budapest last summer.
New rule offers track and field athletes an Olympic redo
For the first time in Olympic history, the 2024 Games will feature a repechage round in the 200-meter through 1,500-meter races, offering athletes who underperformed in heats a second shot at advancing.
In previous Olympics, those spots went to athletes who failed to qualify in their heats but had the fastest overall non-advancing times.
"It’s kind of like a make-up quiz," said US Trials 100-meter hurdles champ Masai Russell. "If it didn’t go right the first time, you could get it right the second time. That’s really good because I feel like with the hurdles especially, anything can happen."
Team USA women's track and field athletes to watch
To call Team USA stacked would be an understatement. These are just a handful of the 61 US women’s sports superstars expected to set the standard in Paris.
Sha’Carri Richardson: Making her highly anticipated Olympic debut after a 2021 suspension, 2024’s fastest woman is favored to become Team USA’s first women’s 100-meter gold medalist since 1996 — and with Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson dropping that race, it’s Richardson’s to lose.
Gabby Thomas: Tokyo bronze medalist Thomas will face back-to-back world champion Jackson in the 200-meter, with both runners chasing legend Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 1988 world record.
Katie Moon: Tokyo gold medalist Moon will defend her pole vaulting title at her second Olympics in Paris, going up against stiff competition in the form of fellow Olympic gold medalist, Greece’s Aikaterini Stefanidi.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: The 400-meter hurdles star's biggest competition is herself: McLaughlin-Levrone has lowered her own world record five times and is poised to become the event’s first-ever two-time Olympic champ.
Chase Jackson: The world’s top-ranked women's shot putter, Jackson will make her Olympic debut in Paris after winning gold at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
The 2024 US Olympic Track & Field Trials returned to action on Thursday, with track stars Sha’Carri Richardson and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone both in the mix.
Richardson is competing in the 200-meter after winning the 100-meter and securing her spot on the Olympic team. McLaughlin-Levron, meanwhile, is competing in the 400-meter hurdles — an event in which she currently holds the world record.
McLaughlin-Levron won Thursday's heat handily, and will now advance to Saturday's semifinal. Her time of 53.07 bested Anna Cockrell's second-fastest time by 1.64 seconds.
"[That] felt good," she told NBC after the win. "I'm honestly excited to be out here and shake off the nerves. My stride pattern felt good. Just getting the feel of the rounds again; I really feel good."
Richardson also made light work of Thursday's heats, winning the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 21.99 — the second-fastest recorded this year — and advancing with ease to the semifinals.
"I’m really just focusing in on executing the curve to make the straightaway much, much easier," she told reporters. "Any time I touch the track it's an opportunity for me to work on my best self."
Elsewhere, discus thrower Valarie Allman confirmed that she too would defend her Tokyo medal in Paris this summer, winning her event on Thursday by more than eight meters.
Reigning Olympic Track & Field champion Athing Mu will not have the opportunity to defend her 800-meter title in Paris after falling during the event's US Track & Field Trials final on Monday.
About 200 meters into the race, Mu uncharacteristically got tangled up in the middle of the track and lost her footing. Coming to her defense, her coach Bobby Kersee said that she had been spiked, suffered track burns, and hurt her ankle. The 22-year-old filed an appeal that saw USA Track and Field officials sorting through replays, but it was later denied.
As a result, Mu did not qualify to run the 800-meter at the 2024 Summer Games, as the US has a standing rule that only the top three Trials finishers make the official Olympic-bound roster.
At her first-ever Olympics in 2021, Mu took home the gold at the 800-meter final, crossing the line in 1:55.21 to break the American record.
"I’ve coached it, I’ve preached it, I’ve watched it," Kersee told The Associated Press after Mu's appeal was rejected. "And here’s another indication that regardless of how good we are, we can leave some better athletes home than other countries have. It’s part of our American way."
Mu finished more than 22 seconds behind eventual winner Nia Akins, but could still make the Olympic team as part of the US relay pool. Mu was a key part of the Team USA's 4x400-meter gold medal win three years ago in Tokyo.
Sha’Carri Richardson has punched her ticket to the Paris Olympics after finishing first in 100-meter final at the US Olympic Track & Field Trials over the weekend.
Her time — 10.71 — sets a record as the fastest time in the world this year. After finishing, she dropped to one knee and bent her head to savor the moment.
"Definitely still confidence, still my exciting normal self, but more so overwhelmed with just emotions of joy," Richardson said of her post-race celebration. "I know that the hard work I've put into, not just physically on the track but as well as mentally and emotionally to grow into the mature young lady that I am today and that I'm going to grow into was a full-fledged surreal moment for me to actually embrace and be able to show to the world and on the track."
It was a statement-making turn in a comeback story that saw Richardson disqualified from the Tokyo Olympics due to testing positive for THC after that year's Olympic Trials.
"Everything I've been through is everything I have been through to be in this moment right now," Richardson said. "There's nothing I've been through that hasn't designed me to sit right here in front of you to answer this question."
Now, Richardson is expected to bring home some hardware from Paris, having grown into one of the greatest sprinters in the world. She won the 100-meter and 4x100-meter relay events at the World Championships last summer. And before this year's Olympic Trials conclude, she’ll look to also qualify for the 200-meter event.
"In the past three years, I've grown a better understanding of myself, a deeper respect and appreciation for my gift that I have in the sport, as well as my responsibility to the people that believe in and support me," Richardson said. "I feel like all of those components have helped me grow and will continue to help me grow into the young lady that I have been divined and by God been blessed to be."