Olympic 400m hurdles queen Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is keeping a lid on her expectations as she prepares to launch her season at the opening leg of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track series on Friday.
The 25-year-old American, who defended her Olympic hurdles crown in Paris last year in a world record-breaking performance, is one of the biggest names appearing at the three-day meeting at Kingston’s National Stadium.
McLaughlin-Levrone, who has not raced in her signature event since storming to gold at the Stade de France last August in an astonishing world record of 50.37sec, said Thursday she plans to use this weekend’s event to gauge her form.
“It was a great year last year, just obviously needed a break,” McLaughlin-Levrone told AFP.
“Definitely had some down time. Now it’s just slowly working our way back in, so just excited to open up and hopefully come out of it healthy and have some direction.
“It’s really early (in the season), so I’m not expecting a crazy time, but I just do want to go out there, get the experience, get the races under my belt and see where we go from there.”
Friday’s opening 400m hurdles will include Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion who was the last person to defeat McLaughlin-Levrone over the distance in 2019.
Hyped as a “revolution” for athletics, the four-event Grand Slam Track series was devised by US Olympic legend Johnson as a means of reinvigorating interest in athletics, offering more head-to-head contests between the world’s best track stars who are competing for lucrative prize money.
Speaking at a press conference in Kingston, athletes participating spoke enthusiastically about their hopes for the series.
US sprint star Gabby Thomas, the reigning Olympic 200m champion who is also in action on Friday, said the event was an opportunity for athletics to shed its image as an “amateur” sport.
“It’s really important for us as athletes to think about what legacy we’re leaving behind,” Thomas said. “I want track and field to grow. I want more opportunities for the younger generation to come up.
“And I want people to feel like they can pursue track and field as a real professional career. And that’s what meets like this do.
“When you have a league like this where we are actually paid and we are expected to show up, that’s what professional sport is.”
Kenny Bednarek, the two-time Olympic 200m silver medalist, praised Johnson’s initiative in starting the series.
“Michael Johnson finally gave us the opportunity to change the trajectory of the sport,” Bednarek said.
“We have the other leagues as well, but this is something new and fresh.”
