00:00Manolady Paolino is the defending champion. She's the Olympic champion.
00:04She's won just about everything on the Diamond League circuit this season but
00:09she will be under huge pressure. She's the fourth fastest in history. Will the
00:13outside lane work to her advantage? She'll have to go eyeballs out right
00:18from the start and hang on. Natalia Bukowiecka, a silver in Budapest two
00:23years ago, bronze last year. The Polish woman is in fine form. She's the national
00:28record holder. She's sandwiched between two absolute powerhouse athletes.
00:34Paolino in nine is the fourth quickest in history. Salwa Ibn Nasser in seven is the
00:40third fastest we've ever seen. World champion in Doha. Olympic silver behind
00:44Paolino. Maybe being in seven will work well for her. Amber Anning of Great
00:50Britain, the world indoor champion. Fifth in the Olympic final last year. This could
00:55be so fast that it might give her a chance to run inside forty nine seconds
00:59and lower her own British record. Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone. The world record
01:07holder and Olympic champion over the four hurdles. Could she become a global
01:13champion over the four flat? She was lightning quick. There is a chance, there is a
01:17chance she might get close to the world record that has stood to Marita Koch for
01:2440 years. Roxana Gomez, a fantastic run in the semis to qualify for the final. She
01:30broke the national record in the semifinals to make the Olympic showdown four
01:34years ago and may have to do so again. Henrietta Jaeger of Norway. She too has
01:39broken the national record this year. World indoor bronze. She made the Olympic
01:43final 12 months ago but she's in better shape than that. Nikisha Price on the
01:49inside. Now recapturing the form that has taken her up to ninth on the all-time
01:56list. The Jamaicans having a great week. Price of Jamaica in two. Jaeger Norway three.
02:03Gomez Cuba four. McLaughlin-Lavrone five for the United States. Anning Great Britain in six.
02:09Nasser Bahrain in seven. Bukowiecka Poland in eight. Paulino the defending champion,
02:15the Olympic champion on the outside in lane nine. We might be about to see something that
02:21hasn't happened for four decades. Even if it's not a world record, any time under 48 seconds has not been
02:29done for so many years. This is a massive final. The world record might have to go for the gold medalist.
02:38Stay.
02:42There's a huge roar from the crowd. This women's 400 meter final could be an absolute epic.
02:48Can Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone repeat the heroics in the semi-final? She's up onto the shoulder of the
02:55world indoor champion. She's floating down the back straight. But Paulino, the Olympic champion,
03:00is on the outside. Bukowiecka not beaten yet. McLaughlin-Lavrone round this second bend. Watch the clock.
03:07They could go under 48 here. The three main protagonists are right there. McLaughlin-Lavrone
03:14trying to go for an unprecedented gold medal over the fourth lap. And she's got the edge,
03:19but Paulino's coming back. She's not beaten yet. This is so close. McLaughlin-Lavrone for history.
03:27She's driving for the line. And she's done it. 47.80. No woman has run this fast for 40 years.
03:38We know she's great over the barriers. But now McLaughlin-Lavrone has elevated herself to position as one of the
03:47all-time greats. It's the second fastest time in history for the hurdles specialist. She has annihilated
03:56the national record again and relegated the Olympic champion to silver. She too breaking 48 seconds.
04:04NASA with the season's best. People questioned whether swapping to the four flat was the right move.
04:12And she has answered all those questions and then some. One of the best 400 races we have ever,
04:19ever seen. For 40 years, we've been waiting for a woman to break 48 seconds. And tonight,
04:27two have done it. Two. McLaughlin-Lavrone is the world champion. And Paulino, the Olympic champion,
04:35has to settle for silver. But in so doing, she too has smashed her personal best and national record.
04:43What a race and what a privilege to be here to have seen it.
04:49And here we are for the replay. This is a replay we will be watching for years to come.
04:54We have been waiting for this event all night. It's been the marquee event. But just for this reason,
04:59three of the best women in the 400 meters are on the track. And boy, did they put on a show.
05:05We have McLaughlin, we have Paulino, and we have NASA. All three women just doing a phenomenal job tonight.
05:15I think the pressure on Paulino would have been massive here in this race. This is her title to lose.
05:21The way she dominated that final in Paris. All week, I've been thinking, yes, McLaughlin-Lavrone looks great.
05:28But Paulino pulls out a 48-1 in Paris. And I was thinking that she'd have to go faster to beat McLaughlin-Lavrone.
05:35And for Paulino to also be pulled underneath 48 seconds, it's great to see that she saved her best to the very end of this season.
05:43But it's intriguing to know that that wasn't good enough. But those two women going second and third all-time on the all-time women's 400 meter lists.
05:52Every single finisher was inside 50. But McLaughlin-Lavrone has decimated the championship record that has stood since Helsinki to Krakosvilliver in 83.
06:04Paulino the silver, Eid Nasser the bronze, Bukoviecka off the podium with 49.27.
06:12One of the greatest races we've ever seen over a single lap. It has taken decades to see a seven next to the four in women's one lap sprinting.
06:26And the world record is surely within her grasp.
06:32The decision now, I think, for the schedulers for the LA Olympics is how can we make it possible for McLaughlin-Lavrone to do both?
06:40I think that's the next challenge for Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone. Perhaps she can relax and maybe chase the world record in both events in the off-season for the Americans next year.
06:49No major championships for the American athletes. And then we'll build with Beijing in 2027 and then those home Olympic Games in 2028 beckon for Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone.
07:01That was poetry in motion. But you know what made that race so good, Tonique?
07:08Paulino came back to her. She made her work for that gold.
07:12Yeah, she certainly did. Paulino took second place inside the semi-final. That's how she ended up with that ninth lean.
07:21But you see, she is a champion. She knows how to run out of any lean on this track.
07:25And she certainly pushed the race and she was able to take herself to a new PB along with Sydney.
07:33She turned that into a brilliant race, Paulino, because she could have folded the speed with which McLaughlin-Lavrone came through on her inside.
07:4147-78. Just 1,800 away from Marita Cox's world record. That was remarkable.
07:5247 was on the cards. We dared to dream. She dared to do it.
07:58And the joy you can see here for Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone. We discussed this, Rob, all the way at the start of the Women's 400.
08:05Why is she doing this? And I think when she lines up in the four hurdles, she can basically only lose.
08:11Anything other than dominating it is seen as a failure. Anything short of a world record as well.
08:15People just expect it in the four hurdles from her the whole time.
08:18And I think that, which you can see the reactions here from her friends and family, her husband.
08:23But to do something like that exceptional, to challenge herself without necessarily as much pressure as she'd experienced in her normal event.
08:31I could see there was a bit of kind of fight there and joy and excitement that I think sometimes isn't there in the four hurdles.
08:38Well, she has several titles at the hurdles, at the Olympic level and at the World Championship level.
08:45She did not have that 400 meter flat. And so now this was a challenge for her. I say the next challenge is going after that world record.
08:53Well, before we start thinking about that, let's savor a wonderful night.
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