Abby Steiner

The track Trials, perhaps the greatest run in sports: every day across 10 days, the dream

The track Trials, perhaps the greatest run in sports: every day across 10 days, the dream

EUGENE, Oregon – The 2024 U.S. track and field Trials came to a close Sunday with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone winning the women’s 400-meter hurdles, and in world record time, 50.65 seconds. “Honestly… when I crossed the line,” she said, “I was, like, oh, snap.”

Sydney is a generational talent. She is so ridiculously good, almost two full seconds ahead of runner-up Anna Cockrell, in 52.64, she might well do in Paris in the 400 hurdles what most world-class female racers can only dream of in the open 400 – run in 49 seconds. Sydney is so good she has run the fastest time in the world this year in the open 400, 48.75 seconds. But she’s not going to run that in Paris. Only the 400 hurdles.

Sydney is so good that her 400 hurdles now is like a men’s 400 hurdles featuring Edwin Moses in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Edwin won 122 in a row. Sydney doesn’t race that often. Not hardly. Still, the point is the same. With respect to Holland’s Femke Bol, until proven otherwise, it’s not who’s going to win. It’s how much by.

Four case studies: athlete mental health

Four case studies: athlete mental health

Athlete mental health is a real thing. To be clear, no one is suggesting otherwise.

It’s intriguing to explore the intersection in recent days of four separate episodes that bear on this fascinating topic.

Any therapist will tell you that matters of mental health are subjective. That is, they’re in the headspace of the person who’s dealing with them. All the same, that person — for purposes of this discussion, an athlete, and more specifically, a professional athlete — lives and works among us. That means there’s some significant measure of objective if not common-sense reality.