Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone not allowed to run in Diamond League finals in Brussels: Reports

Double Olympic champion and world record holder in 400m hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, will not be allowed to participate at the Diamond League finals, scheduled in Brussels, Belgium, according to several reports from the United States.

In a report published by letsrun.com, Petr Stastny, the Chief Executive Officer of Diamond League replied to an e-mail from the website, saying: “It is not about allowing a specific athlete to compete or not. It is about rules and criteria which must be fulfilled by all to becoming eligible to compete at the WDL Final.”

“Ms McLaughlin-Levrone does not fulfil those criteria, either by accumulating enough points or receiving a wild card…The final leg of the Diamond League is not an invitational meeting, and any athlete proposed for a Global Wild Card must have competed at least in one of our events during this season,” he added.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who defended her Olympic crown in both, the 400m hurdles and women’s 4x400m relay, had earlier received an invitation to participate at the Brussels Diamond League final, with the athlete deciding to compete in women’s 400m and 200m events.

However, according to DL rules, she is ineligible to participate as she did not participate in any of the regular DL events of the season so far.

The vast majority of athletes at the DL final qualify by accumulating points during the 14 regular-season meets but the American has no points to her name.

In that case, the only avenue for her to be eligible to participate in the event would have been through “Global Wild Card” — a rule that allowed Norwegian champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen to compete in the 3,000m at the 2023 DL final in Eugene.

However, the minimum requirement to exercise that provision is to have participated in at least one regular DL event, which McLaughlin-Levrone has not done, rendering her ineligible.