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Anna CockrellAmerican track and field athlete
Date of Birth: 28.08.1997
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
- High School Career
- Collegiate Career (USC Trojans)
- Olympic Career
- 2024 Summer Olympics
- Personal Life
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Early Life and FamilySydney McLaughlin-Levrone was born on August 28, 1997, in San Ramon, California. She is the daughter of Serena and Keith McLaughlin, and has two older siblings: Ross, a Super Bowl-winning cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Sierra, a former volleyball player at Davidson College.
High School Career
McLaughlin-Levrone attended Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and competed in track and field under the guidance of coach Carol Lawrence. In 2016, she won the gold medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She also won a gold medal in the women's 4x400-meter relay.
Collegiate Career (USC Trojans)
From 2017-2021, McLaughlin-Levrone competed for the USC Trojans. In June 2019, she became the NCAA champion in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.23 after being the runner-up in each of the previous two years. In August 2019, she won a silver medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles and a gold medal in the women's 4x400-meter relay at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
In May 2021, McLaughlin-Levrone was named Pac-12 Women's Track and Field Athlete of the Year and went on to help her team win their third consecutive conference team title at the Pac-12 Championships, winning both the women's 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. The following month, she became the 2021 NCAA champion in both the women's 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles, helping her team win the team title at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She ran the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 12.58 and the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 54.68, becoming only the second woman in history to win both events in the same season at the NCAA Championships. Her accomplishments earned her the 2021 Honda Sports Award for Track and Field and the Pac-12's Tom Hansen Conference Medal for the year.
McLaughlin-Levrone graduated from the University of Southern California in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the Annenberg School and a minor in political science. She then went on to receive her Master's degree in public policy with a certificate in public policy advocacy in 2021.
Olympic Career
2020 Summer OlympicsAt the 2020 US Olympic Track and Field Trials on June 27, 2021, McLaughlin-Levrone finished third in the women's 400-meter hurdles to qualify for the team alongside Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad. She broke her personal and school record in the 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 53.70, surpassing the previous record she set at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
At the Olympics, McLaughlin-Levrone advanced to the semifinals, placing third in her heat with a time of 55.37. She later placed second with a time of 54.17 in the semifinals, securing her a spot in the final. In the final, McLaughlin-Levrone appeared to finish seventh but was later disqualified after officials determined she had committed a lane violation.
2024 Summer Olympics
At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, McLaughlin-Levrone won a silver medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles. She placed second behind Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone with a personal best time of 51.87 seconds.
Personal Life
McLaughlin-Levrone has been an outspoken advocate for student-athlete mental health after suffering a hamstring injury on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, which she blamed for her team losing the team competition. After exhibiting severe symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation, she eventually reached out to her friends, head coach, and sports psychologist, all of whom she thanked in her USC student-athlete commencement speech that later went viral.
