It won’t be far-fetched to say that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is one of the most dominant stars in track and field right now. The way she has consistently broken world records has been nothing short of incredible. Yet, while today her career reaches new heights with every single race, that was not always the case.

During the 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Sydney finished the race with a time of 52.88 seconds. This couldn’t match up to Dalilah Muhammad’s 52.20, making her the clear winner, while the now Olympic gold medalist settled for the second spot. However, she got the chance to take her revenge at the IAAF World Championships in Doha. She wanted to win the race anyhow and had started working for it. But Sydney was unaware at that time that this was the start of a very tumultuous time.

The darkest period of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s career

According to her book, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set her mind completely on defeating Dalilah Muhammad in Doha and winning the World Championships. The victory would be enough to heal her wounds from the Track and field Championships. She changed her style of hurdling a bit to improve her obstacle-clearing. However, Sydney was going through a lot of anxiety as she kept thinking about the high temperature she would have to perform in.

In the end, she could have definitely been proud of the way she raced. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone finished with a time of 52.23 seconds. It was the third fastest time in the history of 400 m hurdling. Surely that would be enough to seal the victory? It wasn’t. Dalilah Muhammad ran a time of 52.16 seconds that night, which became the new world record. Sydney was heartbroken and started crying after seeing her dad in the tunnel. Some of the US team tried to congratulate her on her race. But she wasn’t in the right headspace at that time.

She explained in her book, “I didn’t want to hear the congratulations. I didn’t want to be told that I’d just run a brilliant race. I knew the truth. I’d fallen short yet again. I’ve never been so disappointed, so completely crushed, after a race.” Sydney admitted that she had reached the lowest emotional point of her career. She knew she needed help. The Olympic gold medalist also wrote that despite this, if she went back in time, she wouldn’t change a thing. This is because Sydney would soon find out that she was chasing ‘fool’s gold’.

How Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone found faith in God to combat her dark phase

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was going through a very tough phase at that time. After her defeat at the World Championship, the pandemic started taking over. Thus, the Tokyo Olympics got canceled, resulting in the hurdler finally hitting rock bottom. Despite taking therapy, she wasn’t making any progress. That’s when Sydney decided to turn to religion.

“I finally turned to God. He used the isolation of COVID and the recent heartaches in Doha and failed relationships to bring me to himself, so I could begin to understand how to make him the priority,” she stated in her book. This was a very important step in her life, according to the hurdler. Had she not taken it at that point in time, Sydney wouldn’t have been prepared to meet her current husband, Andre Levrone, who is also a devout Christian.

As she started immersing more and more into religion, she started finding stability and was getting better. Sydney reflected, “Through those trials, God taught me so much. Though they were all difficult, exhausting, emotional experiences, I’m grateful for them. They helped me understand how to rely on Christ, not myself, in any situation. They were refining me into the woman God wanted me to be.”

Slowly, she emerged outside her dark period. When 2021 came around, she won her first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. This was only the start of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s dominant run, which has made her the athlete she today is.