Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone owns both the 400-meter hurdles world record (50.37 at Paris 2024) and the American record in the flat 400, treating multiple disciplines like a casual hobby while the rest of the world struggles to master one. The 25-year-old doesn’t just win races—she resets what’s possible. She’s the only woman to break 51 seconds in the hurdles, and she’s done it six times.
She’s now the face of Tag Heuer’s new Connected Calibre E5 x New Balance collaboration, a partnership that makes perfect sense for an athlete who measures success in milliseconds and won’t race without her lucky diamond TAG on her wrist. McLaughlin-Levrone is as hands-on designing her New Balance spikes in the biomechanics lab as she is dissecting Sofia Richie’s Instagram for style inspiration.
Looking toward the Summer Olympics in L.A. in 2028, the two-time Olympic champion is plotting how to elevate a sport that has “stars and huge personalities,” but desperately needs the infrastructure to match. Track and field’s business model, she argues, is stuck in 1985, while women’s sports explode everywhere else. She wants track to meet that energy—and she’s positioning herself to help lead that charge.
Observer recently caught up with McLaughlin-Levrone, and below, the Olympian unpacks the rituals, recovery tools and surprisingly specific superstitions that power the fastest woman in history—from 10-minute ice baths and prayer verses to the stuffed dog that gets origami gifts from Tokyo hotel staff.
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