Sydney McLaughlin

1999 - Present

Born August 7, 1999, to parents with Olympic accolades in track and field, one could say that Sydney McLaughlin's great success in the sport was her life’s destiny. Following her older siblings’ footsteps, Sydney took up running at a very young age and became the first two-time Gatorade player of the year.

After competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics at just 16 years old, the Track and Field community started to take her seriously when she was named the youngest athlete to qualify for the USA track team since 1980. Sydney wasn’t always super motivated to win in track and field. She admits that her father, Willie, would often bribe her to run well with chocolate. “He used to say, ‘If you run, I’ll give you a chocolate bar.’ '' said McLaughlin.  “I think I was more excited about the chocolate bar than the fact that I won. I guess he lured me into the sport.”

In the fall of 2016, Sydney signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Kentucky and compete on their track and field team. On the team she set the world junior 400m record of 50.36 s at the 2018 NCAA Division l Indoor Track and Field Championships. That same year, Sydney forfeited her college eligibility and started her professional career with New Balance. Having earned a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 400m hurdles, Sydney also holds the World record and Olympic record for the same event.