“We both want to win the race”: US sprinter Dalilah Muhammad on her rivalry with Sydney McLaughlin

Ahead of the World Athletics Championship 2022, Dalilah Muhammad talked about how she is gearing up to take part in the competition. The tournament will commence three days later, on July 15, 2022 and will last for a span of nine days.

Muhammad is a direct entry in the World Athletics Championship 2022 by virtue of being the defending champion. She will be seen competing alongside compatriot and rival Sydney McLaughlin, with whom she has often been compared.

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Dalilah Muhammad’s take on fellow competitor Sydney McLaughlin

Dalilah Muhammad has won gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics (Image via Olympics)

Dalilah Muhammad specializes in 400 meters hurdles and has won a gold medal in the category at the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, she missed out on the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and had to settle for a silver instead.

Sydney McLaughlin won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (Image via Olympics)

The gold medal was claimed by Sydney McLaughlin at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, who not only set a world record in the 400 meters hurdles, but also smashed her own world record by finishing with a time of 51.46 seconds.

Despite losing the Olympic gold medal to fellow competitor McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad set her personal best record by covering the race in 51.58 seconds.

Muhammad won her first gold medal at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships and has won silver twice in 2013 and 2017 in the same tournament.

In an interview with Reuters, she opened up about the injury that hindered her from taking part in the 2022 USA Outdoor Championships. She said:

“I kind of tweaked my hamstring two weeks before US Championships and I just didn’t want to risk it. My injury wasn't super severe but it just didn't make sense to kind of risk going out there and kind of reinjuring it and retweaking it”

Speaking about her fellow competitor Sydney McLaughlin, the 2016 Rio Olympics winner opined how great it was to witness two women from the same country being at the top of their prime. She said:

It's just super amazing that you have two women both in the same country that are able to run as fast as we've been able to go. That's kind of amazing to just see that the same two people during the same time period running so well.

She further expressed how both of them share the same ambition and have nothing but respect and love for one another:

We both want to be the best. We both want to win the race. We don't really speak too much before the race, but after the race it's all love."

Incidentally, Muhammad and McLaughlin have also won an Olympic gold medal together. Both of them, along with Athing Mu and Allyson Felix, won gold at the Tokyo Games the previous year in the women's 4×400 meters relay.