Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Marileidy Paulino—the two invincible sprinters could have opposed each other at the Diamond League finale. While the first one set her eyes on improving her personal best time in the women’s 400m event, the latter wanted to extend her golden run this season. However, the strangling of rules made Sydney, head to the Allianz Memorial Van Damme meet, keeping her away from the official 400m final in the women’s category tonight. But did that matter to her to continue to do what she does best? 

No! Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone claimed the podium at the 400m invitational event in 49.11 seconds. Remember, it was her first event after the Paris Olympics and the first one in this season’s Wanda Diamond League edition. Yet nothing could stand between her and the top finish. Surprisingly, in the next event, Marileidy Paulino grabbed the top spot at the women’s official 400m event in the Diamond League final. But her victory came in 49.45 seconds—0.34 seconds behind SML. So this signifies one fact: SML could defeat the Olympic champion if age had been given entry into the official event. 

Meanwhile, the two-time Olympic champion’s fans couldn’t digest the above-mentioned fact. They lined up on social media to display their agony. Notably, today, Paulino’s event started 11 minutes after Sydney’s 400m race. Such scheduling rattled the fans, who had already been pissed over SML’s loss of having Global Wild Card in Brussels’ event. 

Had she achieved the official entry in the event by availing of the mentioned card, the 25-year-old could have taken $30,000 home as the prize money. Furthermore, the official recognition could follow her for posting two top timings in the women’s 400m event, being the American. But now, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone can only take the glory of being a frontrunner in the event where her timing stands to be better than the reigning Olympic champion. 

Yet, New Jersey could be heard after the event, not for losing the prize money, but for missing an opportunity. Before stepping into the King Baudouin Stadium, she had revealed her goal, “to improve her personal records.” Today, she stopped at 49.11 seconds—0.37 seconds behind her top timing. But SML could have gone faster. 

In her interaction with Citius Mag in the mixed zone, the two-time Olympic champion named the local weather hindering her way to etch better timing. But she felt happy after competing in Europe, which had previously been a point of argument in Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s career. Still, her fans can’t forget the ultimate loss today. They went berserk on social media against the hosts. 

Fans cry over Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s loss because of ‘fair play’

The hosts of the Brussels Diamond League were happy to announce Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s name as the Global Wild Card entry. But the league rules drew an end to that happiness. As per the rules, the athlete was not eligible to compete in the finals because of her absence in any of the Diamond League finals this season. That blew a chunk of the league’s popularity quotient. But the last approach was the addition of two invitational meets, just for her. But less strictness could have done wonders, as several fans opined. 

It could have made SML the official winner in the women’s 400m event. One such fan penned, “Yeah, that was nice but nobody wanted to see that. The haters spouting off deprived us all of what we really wanted to see. It’s a shame. And salt in the wound running em back-to-back.” One fan took the discussion further by commenting: “would’ve won the final btw but yall wanted to cry about what was fair” Or the force of McLaughlin-Levrone and Marileidy Paulino could have etched a marvelous performance in the annals of the women’s 400m event. A fan emerged to claim that possibility: “Sydney was faster than Paulino who ran 49.45 in the actual final. Its a shame we couldn’t see Sydney competing in the final. She and Paulino would have pushed those times lower.”

But in every way, Sydney could have won the event as a follower dropped, “Crazy, she would’ve won that 400 Final”. And did we miss the prize money, an eye-popping $30,000 amount? A fan reminded us by the line, “Dang she would’ve won it all too”. But Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone enters the book today as the winner of the invitational meet.