Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone arrives with husband Andre at the USATF Championships 2025 ahead of her bid for historic feat in different event

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was recently spotted entering the Hayward Field arena with her husband, Andre, hours before her race at the USATF Outdoor Championships 2025. The event will see McLaughlin-Levrone compete in a new 400m flat event where she is the second fastest American of all-time (48.74 seconds).

Even though the 400m hurdles Olympic champion hasn’t competed over the 400m flat race on a global stage, she has featured in the event during the 2023 USATF Championships. McLaughlin-Levrone went on to win the final, defeating opponents like Talitha Diggs and Lynna Irby-Jackson.

As she looks to start another 400m flat campaign in the US Nationals, aiming to shatter the American record, which currently stands with Saanya Richards-Ross (48.70 seconds), McLaughlin-Levrone reached the arena for the first round of the race with her husband, Andre, beside her to support the 25-year-old. USATF’s Instagram handle shared a video of the track athlete entering the stadium and remarked in their caption:

“@sydneymclaughlin16 is in the houuuse 👑🙌 Catch her in the 400m Semifinal on Friday night at 7:47 ET on @nbcsports and USATF.tv!”

In the 400m flat event, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will face several top opponents, such as Aliyah Butler, Irby-Jackson and Isabella Whittaker, who have shown impressive performances throughout the season. She is scheduled to run the heats on July 31, with the semifinal and final to be held on August 1 and 2, respectively.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone comments on facing self-doubt amid disappointments

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recently shared her take on facing self-doubts after facing disappointments in her career. The 400m hurdles Olympic champion revealed that she has been immensely emotional on several occasions across her career, which the fans don’t understand.

Additionally, she also mentioned one instance from the 2019 World Championships where she was on the verge of winning a 400m hurdles gold medal but eventually lost to Dalilah Muhammad, which was heartbreaking for her. She said (via Ready Set Go, 23:23 onwards):

“People don’t realize athletes are people. They just see you as a performance, number, time, medal and a failure in their eyes and they don’t see you as a person who has highs and lows, trials and battles, fears and doubts and all these things. There’s been definitely times where I have cried in the tunnel after a race. I mean Doha 2019, coming so close to not just the medal but the world record and to see Delilah in her prime doing amazing things and I was like, ah that’s my dream.”

During the conversation, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone remarked that there have also been moments when doubts crept into her head about being able to get the best out of her capabilities.