“It wasn’t my best work, but just happy to be here and happy to get another race under my belt,” said Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone on Saturday morning (July 5), speaking from the mixed zone at Hayward Field, the storied track of the University of Oregon. This time, she wasn’t competing in her signature 400m hurdles. Instead, she lined up for the flat 400m at the 50th Prefontaine Classic — a non-Diamond League race. Given it wasn’t her usual event and lacked the prestige of the Diamond League, should expectations have been different for her?
Sydney got off to a slow start, while Aliyah Butler surged ahead early. But by the final curve, the four-time Olympic gold medalist kicked into gear, surged past the field, and finished first in 49.43 seconds — her season’s best in the 400m. Wearing a fresh new uniform, it was a classic Sydney performance at the legendary Hayward Field. But rewind nine years, and her experience there was very different. Back in those July days, Sydney faced several challenges while competing in her signature 400m hurdles event on this same track. How so?
On July 7, 2016, Hayward Field hosted the women’s 400m hurdles heats at the US Olympic Trials. Among the competitors in Heat 2 was 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. To keep her Olympic dream alive, she needed to secure a top-three finish and advance to the semifinals scheduled for the next day — a goal she and her coaches from Union Catholic High School had clearly mapped out. However, things began to unravel before the race even started.
In her memoir Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith, Sydney recounted feeling overwhelmed while observing her competitors in the warm-up area. “All around me I saw women who were bigger, stronger, more experienced, and, I assumed, faster than I was. They clearly had a strategy as they warmed up. I did not. I would run a bit from one side of the warm-up area to the other and stretch without rhyme or reason,” she wrote. The nerves had already begun to chip away at her confidence before she even stepped on the track.
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On top of that, Sydney couldn’t help but notice how under-equipped she was compared to the other athletes in the heat. “They had equipment—so much equipment. All I had was a little backpack with some extra shoes and clothes. I had never felt so unprepared, so undeserving, and so uncertain of what I was supposed to do,” she shared in her book. The pressure quickly took a toll on her. Struggling to breathe and teetering on the edge of a panic attack, the young Sydney turned to her coaches, pleading with them. Not feeling reassured, she later approached her father with the same desperate request: to let her back out of the race.
“Can I please pull out of this race?” Sydney pleaded with her father, feeling much younger than her 16 years. “I don’t want to run,” she sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I promise I’ll try again in four years,” she recounted in her memoir. It was a pivotal moment — one that had the power to alter the course of her future. But her father responded calmly, grounding her with a simple truth: “You’re already there, Syd.”
Then, in an effort to ease her fears, he gently added, “Just make it through this round, and we’ll talk about it. Everyone is here to see you run. Get the experience. It’s the first round of three; there’s no pressure on you.” His words worked like magic — lifting the weight off her shoulders and clearing the fog of fear.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone started her story in the iconic field
On July 7, 2016, a nervous 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone stood at the start line of Heat 2 in the women’s 400m hurdles at Hayward Field—shaken, uncertain, and nearly ready to walk away. But when the gun went off, something clicked. She didn’t just compete—she dominated, winning her heat in 55.46 seconds, outperforming the very athletes who had overwhelmed her moments earlier.
The next day, Sydney topped the semifinal too. And in the final, Sydney powered through to a third-place finish, clinching a coveted spot on Team USA for the Rio Olympics. It was official: she was Olympic-bound. And the rest, as they say, is history.
At the 2016 Rio Games, Sydney didn’t make it past the semifinals—but she walked away with something far greater. At just 16, she became the youngest U.S. track and field athlete to compete at the Olympics since 1980. The journey wasn’t easy. It came with fear, doubt, sleepless nights, and immense pressure. But she didn’t just survive it—she grew from it. Nearly a decade later, that same Hayward Field—the place where her Olympic dream first took flight—now serves as a stage for her legacy. From terrified teen to global champion, Sydney’s story has come full circle. And Hayward Field has seen it all.
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