A time of 54.15 seconds, a junior world record performance, earned her third place in the United States trials on Sunday.
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Ashton Eaton and Allyson Felix are among the five reigning individual Olympic champions who will represent the U.S.in track and field at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But McLaughlin won’t be the only teen on the team.
In the 1950s, Cottage Grove High School’s track and field program produced one of the top athletes in the country.
Along with Eaton, Felix and Taylor, the other world champions on the team are long jumper Tianna Bartoletta and shot putter Joe Kovacs.
It wasn’t almost enough to help her book a trip to Rio. She was part of the gold-medal 4×400 team at the 2016 indoor world championships.
For what seemed like an eternity Sunday there was a blank spot on the Hayward Field scoreboard where the name of the third-place finisher of the women’s 200 meters should have been.
The athletics programme at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games runs from 12-21 August. “This race was kind of like, ‘get it over with, and I’ll be good.’ No real expectations, just finishing and see what I could do”, she said.
Ash was an All-American in the 60-meter hurdles and the 110-meter hurdles in his one year at OU and owns the school record in both events. It was the sixth best time in the world this season, according to the IAFF.
McLaughlin, a rising senior at Union Catholic in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, said she had a panic attack before the race began. I know all those things seem really small, but to me they add up and become even bigger, and I just appreciate all of it..
“She’s a beast”, Carter said. “She’s the truth. I was in every single heat with her, and she carries herself like a pro”.
“I think the first day was definitely the hardest”, McLaughlin said. “When I give all I have and I run 22.5 it’s just not there”.
World 100m bronze medallist Bowie bagged her second Olympics spot after her third place in the trials 100m final the weekend before, winning the 200m title in 22.25 ahead of Deajah Stevens with 22.30 and Jenna Prandini, who stumbled over the line in 22.53 to deny Felix, who clocked 22.54 in fourth.
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McLaughlin had originally planned to contest the World Junior track and field championships in Poland later this month, but said Sunday she will evaluate her plans now that the Olympics are on the horizon.
