McLaughlin-Levrone cracks 48 seconds in historically fast 400 at the worlds

TOKYO (AP) — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack 48 seconds in the 400 meters Thursday, finishing in 47.78 in an historically fast one-lap race at the world championships.

McLaughlin-Levrone had company. Second-place finisher Marileidy Paulino clocked 47.98 on the rain-slickened track in Tokyo.

They were the second and third-fastest times in history, behind only the 47.60 run by East Germany’s Marita Koch in 1985 — one of the last remaining vestiges of an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed decades after it ended.