BREAKING: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Will Step Away from Competitions in 2026 as She is Expecting Her First Child
- therookiereporters
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
The 26-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shared the news on social media, announcing that she is pregnant and she is expecting her first baby. As a result, she will take the 2026 season off from competing, putting her career on pause for this year.
The world record holder in the 400m hurdles and one of the most dominant athletes in World Athletics over the past decade is about to become a mother and in a few months, she and her husband Andre Levrone, a former American football player, will become parents as they welcome their first child.
Sydney McLaughlin married in 2022, at the age of 23 and hyphenated her surname with her husband's. Beyond the low hurdles, where she has been the undisputed queen and set six world records between 2021 and 2024, improving the 52.16 to 50.37, she also impressed in the flat 400m in 2025 at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. There she finished in 47.78, coming closer than any other athlete to the haunted 47.60 of East Germany’s Marita Koch from 1985.
With Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone temporarily out of action and the Dutch athlete Femke Bol trying her hand at the longer distance of 800m, there is a big opening this year in the long sprint events.
It should be mentioned however, that years like 2026 which fall in the middle of each Olympic cycle are quite sparse in terms of competitions, especially for athletes outside Europe. World Athletics will try to fill this gap this year with the inaugural Ultimate Championships in September, but at least for this year, the big star of sprint events will be absent.
Article written by Ioanna Ntontsef ©Ioanna NtontsefÂ