At this point, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaking world records is almost expected of her. The American, of course, bested her own previously held 400m hurdles world record with a timing of 50.37 (for the sixth time) en route to winning two golds at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But fans suspect her upcoming races in the Diamond League will not be quite as conducive, nor will they have the type of competition to drive her to break records.

After all, the 2024 Diamond League Finals will not feature the American wunderkind. Instead, she will have to make do with the 200m and 400m Invites event, which, of course, will not feature the best possible field. That distinction goes to the Finals, from which she was bizarrely uninvited after initially being given the green light.

Given her status as the best in the world, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was initially invited to this year’s Diamond League Finals in Brussels between 13 and 14 September as a wildcard entry. However, the decision was reversed after controversy broke out since many felt that the Olympic gold medalist did not meet the criteria for participation in the Finals.

Fans know well that the New Jersey native only participates in the premiere events of the sport, like the Olympics and the World Championships, and doesn’t much bother with the more, well, minor events. And it is precisely because of this failure to participate in any of the Diamond League’s fourteen meets that her Finals invitation is rescinded.

Despite this, she is determined to follow through on her promise to participate in the Diamond League, just in a much less prestigious and, frankly, uncompetitive event at the 200m and 400m invites. And fans, of course, are not happy about it. As soon as her competition for the invites was revealed, which predictably had a much less stellar lineup than the finals, fans naturally took to social media to express their displeasure at it.

Fans up in arms with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Invites competition

One aggrieved fan felt that the mismatch between the Olympics gold medallist and the nobodies on the invites was comical, comparing it to the competition between the legendary Harlem Globetrotters and their perennial opponents (and losers) Washington Generals: “With all due respect to the field, this is track’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters vs the Washington Generals.”

Another fan seconded this sentiment and felt the gap between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and the field would be so uncompetitive as to render the event unwatchable: “Definitely won’t be watching another no competition race from her.”

One track and field enthusiast seemingly disagreed with the decision to revoke McLaughlin-Levrone’s wild card entry for the Diamond League Finals and felt decisions like “This is why the sport isn’t growing.”

Another fan, trying his best not to disrespect the other Invite participants, couldn’t help but observe how absurd the Invites would be since their result was almost definitely already determined before the starting pistol had even been fired: “No offense to those talented ladies, but this is just embarrassing.”

One Twitter user found it hilarious that the level of competition might very well lead to the American prodigy that the world-record holder might do better time than many of the ladies running in the finals: “She might run faster times than the ones who are in the finals of DL 😂” 

Of course, as always in sports, there is the possibility that one of the competitors running against Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone may very well spring a surprise and perhaps even defeat the world record holder. But, of course, the chances of that happening are almost negligible. But not zero. What are your thoughts on the topic?