Sydney McLaughlin ran the 400m leg on the Team USA world record-setting distance medley relay at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday. She teamed up with three New Balance sponsored athletes and fellow 2016 Olympians Emma Coburn, Brenda Martinez and Jenny Simpson to set the new indoor record of 10:40.31.
Here are the splits:
Emma Coburn (1200m): 3:18.4
Sydney McLaughlin (400m): 52.32
Brenda Martinez (800m): 2:01.94
Jenny Simpson (1600m): 4:27.66
Coburn handed the baton off to McLaughlin in first place, though her 3:18 was about three seconds slower than her projected finish time. The 400m runner from Team New Balance Europe passed McLaughlin, but the national high school record holder found another gear and sped through the line in first again. That would be the only time that Team USA was not in first place. McLaughlin and Martinez's times were fast enough to put Team USA back in world record contention.
After the race, McLaughlin said, "It was amazing. I knew coming in that it was gonna be a tough race but if we all did our parts, we could get it done."
Despite committing to the University of Kentucky in November, McLaughlin revealed in a post-race interview that she is not ruling out turning pro.
Watch the post-race interview with McLaughlin:
The prior indoor world best for the DMR was 10:42.57, set in 2015 by Sarah Brown (3:15.54), Mahagony Jones (53.59), Megan Krumpoch (2:05.68) and Martinez (4:27.77).
The outdoor world record for the DMR also belongs to Team USA and was also set in 2015. That standard will stand for a bit longer at 10:36.5, thanks to the efforts of Treniere Moser (3:18.38), Sanya Richards-Ross (50.12), Ajee Wilson (2:00.08) and Shannon Rowbury (4:27.92).
