USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone made a stupendous and successful defence of her Olympic 400m hurdles title at the Paris 2024 Games on Thursday (8) as she took 0.28 off her own world record* with 50.37.

Her Dutch rival Femke Bol, who had steered her nation to gold in the mixed 4x400m six days earlier, clocked 52.15 for a second successive Olympic bronze after being overtaken in the closing stages by McLaughlin-Levrone’s teammate Anna Cockrell, who claimed silver in a personal best of 51.87 that moves her to fourth on the world all-time list.

“Grateful to God for this opportunity, grateful to be celebrating my 25th birthday like this. It was yesterday, just a super opportunity, you can’t even imagine,” said McLaughlin-Levrone.

“It’s amazing to see our sport continue to grow, for people to want to watch the 400m hurdles. I knew it was going to be a tough race. An amazing competition all the way round.”

There were no excuses from Bol, one of the most honest of athletes in terms of her words and her efforts.

“All you want to do in an Olympic final is to put up your best race. I screwed it up,” she said. “I’m not sure where I made the mistake. I just got so much lactic acid with 300 metres to go. I’m not sure why, I really have no explanation. This is just a bad race. I’ll look at the positives, I’ll talk to my coach, I’ll try to enjoy the bronze.”

Until the field began to complete the final bend, 24-year-old world champion Bol appeared to be in touch with the 25-year-old who beat her so emphatically at the Tokyo Games and 2022 World Championships.

But with three sets of hurdles left her challenge seemed to drift away as McLaughlin-Levrone turned the screw to emerge as clear leader in the finishing straight. After crossing the finish line as far from her perennial rival as she had ever been, Bol seemed simply bemused, shaking her head and slapping her face.

While it may not have been clear beforehand who would win, what was clear was the huge following Bol had in the stadium, with orange shirts and flags visible all around the arena.

While the US phenomenon had arrived in Paris as the fastest in the world, Bol had raised genuine hope among her supporters after lowering her European record from 51.45 to 50.95 in July, employing to great effect the modified stride pattern she has now mastered involving 14 steps to hurdle seven, then 15 over the final three.

That was the third fastest time in history behind McLaughlin-Levrone’s two world records of 50.68, set in winning the 2022 world title in Oregon, and 50.65, again in Oregon at this year’s US Olympic trials.

By the time McLaughlin-Levrone got to perform the duty required of all gold medallists here in ringing the giant trackside bell she looked serene, with a United States flag draped around her shoulders and a tiara on her head.

After her sixth consecutive world record, she remains the queen of her event.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who said she now hopes to run in the 4x400m, admitted she had been nervous before the race. “1000%. Especially before the Olympic final,” she said. “There is so much talent in this event. There are also 10 barriers you have to get over to cross that finish line.

“There are always nerves, there was a lot of anticipation before this race and rightfully so. There’s so much depth with Femke and Anna.”

Asked about the reasons for her improvement in this event, she added: “Just becoming more familiar with the race itself. There are so many ways you can run it, there are so many different ways to get better.

“Between stride pattern, touchdown time, flat speed, it’s always just trying to improve those things. There’s no such thing as a perfect race, but the closer and closer we can get to 49 seconds, I feel like it’s inching there.”

For 26-year-old Cockrell, who had arrived in Paris with a personal best of 52.64, this was a huge leap forward.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m overcome. There’s not much you can say when you have a PB and you win a medal. It all came together in the best possible way. My coach just told me to have fun, be myself, go out there and be Beyonce.

“I was singing ‘Love On Top’ in the call room, so shout out to Beyonce! I’m really happy. I’m ugly crying, but I’m really happy.

“This medal means everything. This has been a dream that’s been years in the making. I’ve moved multiple times, I moved to Texas, I live in Arkansas now. I sacrificed a lot, my family has sacrificed a lot.”

Fourth place went to the third US athlete in the field, Jasmine Jones, who clocked a personal best of 52.29, with Jamaican athletes filling the next two places through Rushell Clayton in 52.68 and Shiann Salmon in 53.29.

There was extra excitement for the home crowd at the presence of Louise Maraval, but she finished eighth in 54.53 behind Canada’s Savannah Sutherland, who clocked 53.88.