This year, when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone left hurdles to run 400m flat, many pondered if she’d be able to assert her dominance in an unfamiliar discipline. But last month in Tokyo, she stunned everyone by clocking 47.78 seconds in the women’s 400m. With this, she also threatened the 40-year-old record of Germany’s Marita Koch, who clocked 47.60 back in 1985. Though she couldn’t surpass that record, McLaughlin-Levrone certainly reshaped the event’s hierarchy. And now, Olympic legend Justin Gatlin has revealed exactly what makes her new challenge so disruptive.

On October 26, in an episode of the Ready Set Go podcast , Justin Gatlin weighed in on the challenge that McLaughlin-Levrone created for her rivals. He first highlighted McLaughlin-Levrone’s semi-final run (48.29) in Tokyo, whe

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