Women & Sport: NJ has produced some of the world's fastest runners, like Sydney McLaughlin
Some call it the greatest performance in 400-meter hurdles history.
But for Sydney McLaughlin it might as well have been business as usual.
In a record-shattering 50.68 seconds, the 22-year-old from New Jersey broke her own world record for the fourth time in 13 months. And as she ran down the final stretch at the Hayward Field in Eugen, Oregon, the Olympic gold medalist was truly in a league of her own: she was at least 1.5 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher at the World Athletics Championships.
The track star hails from Dunellen and attended Union Catholic Regional High School, where many remember her as a running prodigy. She graduated in 2016, and attended the University of Kentucky. She is a two-time Olympian and gold medalist — winning gold in the 400-meter hurdles and 4x400-meter relay with Team USA in Tokyo last year.
There’s no doubt that McLaughlin will be remembered as one of the fastest runners in world history. With each race, she seems to be getting faster. But she is also part of an elite class of female runners who hail from the Garden State.
Last week’s World Athletics Championships finished as one of the most successful for Team USA ever — thanks also to other New Jersey runners, including Athing Mu.
The 20-year-old from Trenton became the first American woman to win gold in the 800-meter event. The Olympic medalist finished in 1 minute and 56.30 seconds in a nail-biting sprint in the final stretch against Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson. Mu won by eight hundredths of a second.
Mu graduated from Trenton Central High School in 2020. She attended Texas A&M University, and is a two-time Olympic medalist. She won gold in the 800-meter and 4x400-meter relay at the Tokyo Games, marking her Olympic debut. And yes, Mu won gold alongside McLaughlin that year.
Women & Sport:A look at female athletes from rec league to pros
McLaughlin was also part of the winning 4x400-meter relay team in Oregon last week. She did that with another runner with New Jersey ties: 19-year-old Talitha Diggs.
The University of Florida track star, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was born in New Jersey. She is the daughter of four-time U.S. Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs, who still holds the record for the 800-meter race at Columbia High School in Maplewood. She is also the niece of another Jersey Olympian, Hazel Clark.
Diggs’ family tree also includes Olympic medalist Jearl Miles-Clark and her grandfather, Joe Louis Clark, who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the 1989 film, “Lean on Me.”
Runners from all over the world came together to shatter records and rewrite their legacies at the World Champions last week. Team USA's roster also included three more women with ties to New Jersey: Ajeé Wilson (800-meter), Jessica Woodward (shot put), and Keturah Orji (triple jump).
It doesns't matter if you’re a world champion like McLaughlin, Mu or Diggs, or an elite distance runner like Morris County’s Roberta Groner. Female runners around the world are running faster than ever in races across the world.
Chances are, someone in the race is from New Jersey.
Women & Sport is a new NorthJersey.com column devoted to female athletes from the rec league level to those in college and the pros. If you've got a tip on an athlete from North Jersey who should be noted in the column, no matter how young they are or how old, please drop me a line at anzidei@northjersey.com.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ has Sydney McLaughlin, more of world's fastest runners
