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Olympic and world champion Marileidy Paulino extended her unbeaten streak by winning the women’s 400m on the opening day of the Diamond League finals in Brussels on Friday.
Paulino, of the Dominican Republic, clocked 49.45 seconds for the win and is undefeated in one-round competition since last year’s Diamond League in Silesia, Poland.
“I had a decent race at the end of a very long season,” Paulino said. “Of course, I would have liked to run faster and get closer to my personal best, but it was really cold tonight.
“This season has been fantastic for me. With the gold medal in Paris, I can now say that I have won all the titles I could win.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have goals for the next few seasons. I want to improve and win medals in the big championships.”
Paulino’s winning time was, however, bettered by American hurdles star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in an invitational race.
“Running the 400m at the end of the season definitely hurts a little more and I felt some cramping,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.
“That’s why I chose to run with long snowshoes, just to be safe. But I felt strong during the race.”
The American, who improved her own world record by winning back-to-back Olympic 400m hurdles gold medals in Paris, had not competed in a Diamond League event this season and was therefore ineligible for the final.
– I decide to do 200m tomorrow –
But organizers managed to lure McLaughlin-Levrone, who won a second Olympic gold medal in Paris with the U.S. 4x400m relay team, to Belgium to compete in invitational 200m and 400m flat races to “honor” her Olympic achievements.
She landed in Belgium with the fourth-fastest 400m time of the year, having run 48.75 seconds in New York in June.
But she failed to improve her personal best, clocking 49.11 seconds for an easy victory over a weak field.
“My season always revolves around the major championships, and I build my program with my coach Bob Kersee around those,” McLaughlin-Levrone explained of her absence from European competition.
“In addition, I already have to be in top shape during the American trials in order to be able to participate in the Olympic Games. Participating in meetings in Europe in the meantime is therefore not easy, the transcontinental trips are quite tiring.”
McLaughlin-Levrone, however, suggested next year could be different given that the world championships will be held in Tokyo in mid-September.
“Maybe it will open up more opportunities to compete in Europe, but we’ll see,” she said.
McLaughlin-Levrone’s 200m invitational is scheduled for 17:53 GMT on Saturday, 20 minutes before the Diamond League final.
“We’ll go home, rest a little bit and decide tomorrow whether we’ll run the 200m or not,” admitted the American.
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