USA Track & Field Photo
A historic thirty-minute period took place for Kentucky Track and Field at the Stade de France on Thursday evening, as Americans Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Daniel Roberts each picked up Olympic medals within minutes of each other.
McLaughlin-Levrone defended her Olympic gold medal in the 400m hurdles from Tokyo, winning the race in a world record time of 50.37 seconds.
Roberts picked up his first career Olympic medal, a silver, in the 110m hurdles, finishing second in a time of 13.09 seconds. Kentucky signee Tapiwanashe Makarawu, representing Zimbabwe, also raced in an Olympic final on Thursday, finishing sixth in the 200m.
McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in history to repeat an Olympic gold medal in the 400m hurdles, dominating the world class field in her record-breaking race. The New Jersey native led the entire way and breezed down the homestretch without a competitor in frame.
The Wildcat has now bested the globe’s top time in the event six times in her career. A freshman sensation in the Bluegrass during her lone season, McLaughlin-Levrone, a 2018 SEC and NCAA champion, also bested her Olympic record from 2021 and earned her third career Olympic gold medal.
Roberts, a 2019 Kentucky graduate, earned the first Olympic medal of his career in his second Games after a gutty, silver medal winning run in the 110m hurdles. The 2019 SEC Champion and NCAA Runner-up in the same event used a blistering start and a wonderful lean at the line to post his best career international result.
Roberts’ lean at the finish was critical to his silver medal, as he bested Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell by three one-thousandths (.003) of a second. The Wildcat was second only to compatriot Grant Holloway, his longtime collegiate rival.
Makarawu was the first Wildcat to race in an Olympic final in Paris, finishing sixth in the 200 meters in a time of 20.10 seconds. Running out of lane two, the Zimbabwean made up the stagger on his compatriot in lane three to exit the turn in medal contention but was unable to charge late and earn a piece of hardware. However, the seven-time junior college national champion will head to Lexington following a successful first Olympic Games.
On Friday, four Wildcats will race in Paris, including Alexis Holmes in the 400m final. The day will start at 6:05 a.m. ET when Kentucky’s trio of 100m hurdlers — Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Masai Russell, and Devynne Charlton (Volunteer Assistant Coach/Purdue Alum)—race in the semifinal round and seek to book their ticket to Saturday’s Olympic final.
Holmes will race for Gold in the quarter mile at 2 p.m. ET.
3 Responses
She is amazing, I’ve been watching Olympics since I was a kid.i don’t recall anyone that makes it looks so easy the way she has performed. No one has been closed to her when crossing that finish line.
She has been that way from the first time I heard about her in high school
There’s no telling how many SEC or NCAA records she would have broken had she stay longer at Kentucky.