Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone dominated in her first race of 2025, taking the 400m hurdles on the debut day of the Grand Slam Track series in Kingston, Jamaica.
She clocked 52.76 seconds, distancing runner-up Dalilah Muhammad by 1.83 seconds. McLaughlin-Levrone has now won 23 consecutive 400m hurdles races (including heats) since taking silver at the 2019 World Championships, according to track and field statistics website Tilastopaja.info.
In the last four years, she has broken the world record six times -- taking it from 52.16 to 50.37 -- and won Olympic gold in Tokyo and Paris.
Grand Slam Track Kingston continues Saturday, live on Peacock at 6 p.m. ET.
GRAND SLAM TRACK: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
Grand Slam Track is a new series of meets for sprinters, hurdlers and distance runners. Each athlete races in two different events over a three-day meet. McLaughlin-Levrone is set to race the flat 400m on Sunday.
There are four Grand Slam meets — Kingston, followed by Miami (May 2-4), Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29), all live on Peacock.
Athletes are divided into six event groups for each Slam: short sprints (racing the 100m and 200m), short hurdles (100mH and 100m or 110mH and 100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400mH/400m), short distance (800m/1500m) and long distance (3000m/5000m).
There are 24 men’s “Racers” and 24 women’s “Racers” who signed up for all four Grand Slams — four for each event group. For each individual Slam, men’s and women’s “Challengers” fill out the rest of the fields for every eight-athlete event group. Racers who have to withdraw from meets are replaced by additional Challengers.
Athletes earn points based on results, which determine champions for each event group for every Slam. Points are distributed from first through eighth place in each race as follows: 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
The winner of each Slam event group earns $100,000 in prize money. Eighth place gets $10,000.
One overall men’s season champion and one overall women’s season champion will be crowned at the end of the season.
In other events Friday, Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas won the 200m for the long sprints group in 22.62 seconds. She was followed by Olympic 400m gold medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in 22.93.
The women's long sprints group next contests a 400m on Saturday. If Paulino wins that race, Thomas must finish second to have any chance to win the event group.
World indoor champion Chris Bailey took the 400m in the men's long sprints in 44.34, three hundredths off his personal best. He was followed by Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain in 44.65. That event group finishes with a 200m on Saturday.
Nikki Hiltz, the U.S. champion in the 1500m, won the 800m in the women's short distance group in 1:58.23 to take momentum into Saturday's 1500m.
