For Syd 'The Kid' McLaughlin, the time is now

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Union Catholic coach Mike McCabe said it took all of 15 minutes to evaluate freshman Sydney McLaughlin as an incoming freshman and realize she was something special.

That was in the fall of 2013. Her older brother, Taylor, had already become a star at the high school. Everyone was well aware that her parents had both been college track athletes. Her father, Willie, had competed in the 400 meters at the 1984 Olympic Trials.

Less than three years later, Sydney McLaughlin’s progress has brought her to Rio de Janeiro. On Monday, the Union Catholic rising senior will compete in the first round of the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games (Heat 1, Lane 2).

McLaughlin turned 17 on Aug. 7 – she stayed home in Dunellen, N.J. to celebrate with friends and did not attend the Opening Ceremony – and when she steps onto the track she will be the youngest U.S. track Olympian since the advent of professional track.

McLaughlin will bring a youthful sense of wonder to the Games. She is genuinely humbled by the fact that she was able to step to the front of the line of U.S. 400 hurdlers four years ahead of where she realistically expected to make an Olympic team.

“I always thought about (the Olympics) when I was younger,” McLaughlin said. “To have it come so soon is a little wild. It doesn’t feel real yet. It is crazy. It has always been on my mind, but definitely not at (17).”

Fielding questions on a teleconference about three weeks ago, McLaughlin addressed what it’s like to be a kid who has arrived on the doorstep of a huge opportunity.

She doesn’t have her driver’s license yet. In fact, she thinks she accidentally threw away her permit and isn’t sure when she might re-apply. Thinking ahead to the fall, she is interested in growing her school’s juggling club so that there are enough members to perform at pep rallies.

She has with her in Rio a lucky Minions blanket. She’ll have her nails done – long with lots of sparkles.

But the valuable experience that McLaughlin gained by placing third at the Olympic Trials and running a World Junior record 54.15 could be an overriding factor in how she handles the pressure in Rio.

In Eugene, she was in a near-panic as the gravity of the stakes felt overwhelming.

After making the U.S. team, expectations have been largely removed. If she can dig in, stay competitive and summon her best effort, McLaughlin has a chance to reach the Olympic final.  

Historically, best time, 54.15 seconds, doesn’t medal. But it is fast enough to have made the finals in every Olympics since the event was added for women in 1984.

McLaughlin’s enormous talent has been evident since those first 15 minutes of high school that McCabe referred to. In her first indoor meet in a Union Catholic uniform, she ran 38.55 at the Bishop Laughlin Games at the Armory on Dec. 21, 2013. Three months later she got her first taste of New Balance Nationals Indoor, where future Olympians Keturah Orji and Raven Saunders competed.

At the end of the 2014 outdoor season, McLaughlin made her first trip to Eugene and competed at U.S. Juniors. Still just 14 and too young to make the U.S. team, she ran 55.63 in the 400 hurdles and almost beat the NCAA champion, Shamier Little, who ran 55.43.

From that very moment, the idea that McLaughlin could contend for an Olympic spot in two years began to foment.

In 2015, as a sophomore, McLaughlin ran 55.28 at the World Youth Trials. She would go on to claim gold at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Colombia.

McLaughlin and her coaches went into the off season with a mission: Learn the technique of switching lead legs so that she could shave off more time.

The 2016 year was fraught with setbacks. She had mononucleosis and missed some training time and meets during the winter. On April 2, Sydney’s mother, Mary, suffered a heart attack. Mary McLaughlin recovered, thankfully, but it was stressful time for the entire family.

Still, Sydney stayed on track to chase her goals. She broke the 31-year-old national high school record in the 400 hurdles at New Balance Nationals Outdoor with 54.46.

In the Olympic Trials final, with the unusual situation of chasing faster women, McLaughlin lowered her record to 54.15. That came after a pair of wins in the first round and semifinals.

“I definitely benefitted from all the rounds (at the Trials),” McLaughlin said. “It helped me mature in the 400 hurdles overall. Three rounds is a lot. Day after day you have to come back and do it again. It was a great experience.”

Another experience that may prove to be beneficial was dealing with and conquering her fears. That may prove to be the most important hurdle clearance of the year.

“I’ve been telling my kids that from my own experience running in the Olympic Trials (in 1984) was the single most stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Sydney’s father, Willie, said. “The stress is off the scale.”

There is no blueprint for a track athlete this young welding their junior year of high school track to an Olympic Games. Even the spate of young athletes who have turned professional in the past two years -- Kaylin Whitney, Candace Hill, Mary Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Drew Hunter, the Lyles brothers -- haven't made it this far. High jumper Vashti Cunningham, a recent graduate of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, has gone through some similarly lofty experiences in 2016, including a world indoor championship.

In Rio, the plan is to make the races fun and take them round by round.

“I think the learning experience of racing (the final) at the Trials will pay so many dividends,” McCabe said. “It was huge. She was forced to do something she wasn’t used to. The stakes were higher and it went out fast.”

The learning experience McLaughlin will live through this week could take her even further.