Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone didn’t just lose a race. She ignited a conversation. Her surprising fifth-place finish in the 100m hurdles at the Grand Slam Track meet stunned fans and experts alike. But while many saw it as a setback, this US Olympic gold medalist athlete saw something else entirely. Speaking on the Ready Set Go podcast, the former sprint king delivered a passionate and eye-opening take on where McLaughlin-Levrone goes from here. And why her journey might be just getting started.Justin Gatlin, clearly impressed by McLaughlin-Levrone’s competitive fire, didn’t mince words. “She got fifth—she’s not going to come across that line and say, Oh, that was pretty good. I’m happy with that,” he emphasized. “She’s gonna come across the line like, Man, I need to do better. Let’s run it back,” Gatlin further added. He highlighted how she approached the sprint like an interval workout, maintaining a steady rhythm rather than digging into a true sprint gear. Something that, despite the loss, still left him impressed. The real mystery now, Gatlin noted, is what event the 4x Olympic gold medalist will choose as her priority moving toward the LA Olympics. “I want to see if Syd is going to stick with the short hurdles and 100 for LA or if she’s going to jump back into the 400 hurdles and the open four,” he said. While no one but McLaughlin-Levrone and her coach knows the full plan, Gatlin made one thing clear. Whatever she decides, she’s not done making headlines. “She’s out there doing what she needs to do,” Gatlin warned. “Whoever was playing with her, they better stop playing.” Even in defeat, Gatlin saw signs of brilliance. He drew a compelling comparison between McLaughlin-Levrone and legends like Gail Devers. Gatlin pointed out how rare it is to find athletes capable of excelling in both sprinting and hurdling. “She’s a sprinter that hurdles,” Gatlin said, repeating the phrase with conviction. “She does both of them very well.” For him, this wasn’t just a loss; it was an experiment, and one that could pay off big with the right adjustments and training focus. Gatlin also questioned why more coaches don’t try dual-event strategies like this. “It works for championships,” he said, noting the structure of major events like the Olympics and World Championships gives enough recovery time between sprint and hurdle rounds. “I’d love to see somebody like her with that superior foot speed… If she really took it seriously and trained for it, she could definitely go sub-11.1,” Gatlin stressed.He believes Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has the tools to dominate not just the 400m hurdles but also the short sprints if she chooses to focus there. Surely, McLaughlin-Levrone has come a long way. While the shift to the 100m hurdles was quite courageous, the Olympian spent most of his time earlier fearing the worst.Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone opens up about her silent battles as she took up a major career decisionBefore Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shattered world records and redefined the 400m hurdles, she was quietly unraveling on the inside. Behind the poise and precision was a young athlete gripped by fear, not of her competitors, but of falling short of impossible expectations. “I lived a lot of my life in fear. Fear of not pleasing the Lord, fear of not being loved by people,” she admitted in a revealing interview with The Athletic. It wasn’t fame or medals that drew her to track; it was the desperate need to feel worthy. That pursuit of validation came at a cost. McLaughlin-Levrone confessed to being overwhelmed before races, her nerves boiling over into physical distress. “I used to get so anxious and so nervous that I would just be throwing up. I would be a mess, honestly,” she said. For the Olympic champion, victory was the only acceptable outcome. A mindset that turned each competition into a mental battleground. “For me, winning was the only option,” she added, exposing the harsh weight of perfection she once placed on herself. Now 25, McLaughlin-Levrone is still rewriting her story. Not just with her times on the track, but with her courage off it. While the track community watches her shift gears into the 100m at the Grand Slam Track circuit, she’s also moved into new emotional territory. No longer defined by fear, she’s found a more grounded identity through her faith. The transformation is ongoing, but the silence is broken. And that, for Sydney, might be the biggest win yet.The post Jumping to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Defense American Legend Makes Surprising Claim Over Track and Field Star appeared first on EssentiallySports.