American track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will run her first professional 100-meter race at the Philadelphia Grand Slam Track meet that begins later this month, the athletics circuit said Friday.
The 400-meter hurdles world-record holder and twice Olympic champion has kept a stranglehold on her signature event for several years, and swept the long hurdles groups at the first two Grand Slam meets in Kingston and Miami.
She will drop down to the women’s short hurdles group for the Philadelphia meet, which comprises the 100-meter hurdles and the 100-meter flat, the latter of which she has never run in a professional setting.
The Michael Johnson-fronted circuit offers a twist on traditional track meets, as athletes face off in 12 groups — men’s and women’s short sprints, long sprints, short hurdles, long hurdles, short distance and long distance — and compete in two races per meet.
The points totals from those runs determine the champion of each group.
The last time McLaughlin-Levrone took on the 100-meter flat was at a collegiate event in 2018 when she was a student at Kentucky. She ran the distance in 11.07 seconds.
The meet will be held May 30-June 1 at historic Franklin Field, home of the Penn Relays.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
