Sydney McLaughlin! Sydney McLaughlin! Sydney McLaughlin! Sydney got it done! Hair time is now! It's gonna be Sydney's time again! Sydney McLaughlin! The 22 year old American! There is no stopping her! When Sydney McLaughlin crossed the line in the 400 meter hurdles at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the clock read 50.68 seconds. Not only did the clock stop, but the world stopped along with it. Complete shock at the fact an athlete even as talented as McLaughlin was able to accomplish such a feat of excellence. Not only did she take almost a full second of her own world record, but she also would have finished 7th place in the open 400 meters that just happened a couple minutes before at those World Championships. Since then though, all eyes have been on McLaughlin, specifically on what she would be doing next. She already had the world record, already had Olympic gold, and now had the World Championship gold. The next logical step was the open 400 meters. And considering what she did in the 400 meter hurdles, many thought it would be certain she would take down the 400 meter world record. Sydney McLaughlin is going to go after the long standing 400 meter flat record. Is there anybody in this building that's going to doubt the taking away these 10 hurdles is somehow magically going to prevent her from really running something special in the flat 400? Despite being a once in a generation athlete though, I think we need to put some perspective on how challenging not only that 400 meter world record is, but also how moving from the hurdles to the open 400 meters is not just a simple task of moving the hurdles off the track. So let's dive into that first part. The women's 400 record is 47.60 seconds, set over 37 years ago back on October 9th 1985 by myrida coach of Eastermy. It's one of the oldest world records in the sport. Second only to the women's 800 meter world record set in 1983. Coach cemented herself in the record books, not only with that world record, but also multiple all-time performances, as well as an Olympic gold at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games. Number two on the all-time 400 meter list is your millicotachvalova at 47.99 seconds. That is almost a full four tenths of a second behind coach. And these are the only two women to ever run sub 48 seconds in the event. After that, you have Salo Ignacer, who's run 48.14 at the 2019 Doha World Championships. Maria Jose Porec, Olga Brasgina, and Seanar Miller-Waybow round out the sub 48.5 performers with 48.25, 48.27, and 48.36 seconds respectively. Now when you look at these women behind coach, you have a combined six Olympic medals, nine world championship medals, and a plethora of sub 49 second performances. But despite these all-time greats, only one woman was within half a second of coach's world record. And most were not even in the same atmosphere. To break that record, a woman would not have to run 47.9, 47.8, 47.7, or even 47.60. They would have to run at least 47.59 seconds to take that record down by just a hundred of a second. Now, one thing going for McLaughlin, ignoring her 400 meter personal best of 50.09 from 2018, is that she is already an extremely fast flat runner, at least based on her rebate splits. At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, McLaughlin ran a second leg split of 48.7 seconds. While at the 2022 World Championships, she ran an anchor leg split of 47.9 seconds. Again, for context, the 400 meter world record is 47.60 seconds. So, without a running start, she would still have to run four tenths of a second faster. We do have to put in perspective that a four by four split does not exactly mean someone will be extremely fast in the open event, or even vice versa. Case in point, Alison Felix has run 47.7, 48.0, and 48.2 seconds on four by four splits. But, she only has a personal best of 49.26 seconds in the open 400. On the flip side, Siny Richard Ross has run 48.70, 48.83, and 48.92 in the open 400. But her fastest four by four split is only 48.84 seconds. So, we can't take a relay split as a perfect predictor, but it does give us an indication of what might be possible. Well, what about converting her hurdle time to the open 400? Remember, her hurdle time would have placed seventh place in the open 400 meters at the World Championships. Well, there is no perfect conversion considering there are so many variables that go into running the hurdles. And even more so because the women's event is relatively new in the grand scheme of track and field. The Olympics only introduced the event for women in 1984, while the men had been competing in the 400 hurdles since the 1900s. But, there are many estimates that say there is approximately a 1.5 to 3 second difference between a time in the 400 meter hurdles and open 400. So, let's take that at face value. Cinematglochlin's 50.68 seconds in the hurdles would give her an open time in the range of 49.18 to 47.68. I feel pretty confident saying that she is much faster than 49.18. But then even on the extreme end of the estimate at 47.68, she would still be just short of that world record. There is a reason that 400 world record is approaching 40 years on the books. It's simply not easy. But, this shouldn't diminish the fact that McLaughlin is capable of running extremely fast. Do I think that she'll break the 400 meter world record? I'm not exactly sure yet. Though I spoke about all these conversions and what other athletes have done, there is no perfect formula or comparison that could be made to predict what a once in a generation athlete would do. But, do I think she'll run extremely fast? Absolutely. I feel pretty confident saying that if McLaughlin focused on the 400 for a year or so, she would almost certainly run sub 48 seconds. But, from there, who knows what may happen? But I'm certain we would all love to see that record go down and it would be a huge deal to see McLaughlin be the one to finally do it. Let me know what you think about sitting McLaughlin in the 400 meters. Do you think that she can break that 400 world record? Do you even think in 2023 we're going to see her run the 400 more consistently compared to the 400 meter hurdles? Let me know what you think. Make sure you like the video, subscribe to our channel, and thanks for watching.