American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (SML) is one of track and field’s most prominent stars. When Sydney competes, she usually does exceptionally well.
She raced in seven track meets in 2024, setting a world lead or world record in four of them, including her sixth world record of 50.37 in the women’s 400 hurdles at the Paris Olympics. The sole true criticism levelled about SML is that she competes infrequently, particularly on the track’s premier pro circuit, the Wanda Diamond League, where she has raced only once since 2019.
McLaughlin-Levrone at the 2024 US Olympic Trials
So we’ve got some wonderful news. The Allianz Memorial Van Damme organisers confirmed today that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will compete in this year’s meet on September 13-14, which also serves as the Diamond League final for 2024. In addition, she will compete in two events: the women’s 200 and 400.
The bad news is that Diamond League organisers are breaking their own regulations by allowing her to compete.
The Diamond League final is intended to be the season-ending championship for the athletes who amassed the most points during the regular season, similar to how the FedEx Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour are for the players who accumulated the most points during golf’s regular season.
Diamond League rules allow for up to two men and two women to receive “Global Wild Card” entries into the Diamond League final, but Rule 4.5 of the Diamond League Meetings Regulations states that in order to be eligible for a wild card, an athlete must have competed in a regular season Diamond League meet.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone did not compete in any Diamond League meets in 2024.
While this outcome is undoubtedly positive for Brussels, we are shocked by it. It’s astonishing that they’d make an exception for someone who not only dominated the Diamond League circuit this year but has also been named the leader of a new rival circuit in 2025 — Grand Slam Track.
It’s also worth noting that SML plans to double its presence in Brussels. McLaughlin-Levrone has consistently chosen not to double in individual events at global championships. However, she will be required to double at four Grand Slam Track meets next year, and the 200/400 that she will run in Brussels is one of the doubles open to her under GST.
This is a huge leap—and pure speculation on our part—but it makes us wonder if Brussels will join Grand Slam Track in 2025. One of our primary concerns of Grand Slam Track (apart from its segregated event groupings and complex scoring system) is that they are attempting to create “majors” out of new meets with no history.
However, from 1993 and 1997, Brussels was one of the Golden Four (Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, and Zürich). Could Brussels aim to repeat history by joining Grand Slam Track and becoming one of the Big Four? Given how we’ve seen in recent years with all of the NCAA conference realignments that sports organisations will behave in their own self-interest, this wouldn’t surprise us. One of the reasons Berlin did not join the Diamond League when it was founded in 2010 was because it preferred to run the meet on its own terms rather than following Diamond League criteria.
We have contacted Memorial Van Damme for comment and will let you know when we hear back.
What are your thoughts? Should she be able to compete? Vote in our poll and discuss it on our world-renowned messageboard/fan community. MB: Sydney McLaughlin to double in the DL Final – an event she is not eligible for.
Should Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone be permitted to compete in the DL finals?
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