Former UK track star McLaughlin signs with New Balance after ‘huge bidding war’
Sydney McLaughlin, whose brief athletics career at University of Kentucky rivals that of some of John Calipari’s star players, signed a contract with New Balance on Monday as her footwear and apparel sponsor.
ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell reported that a “huge bidding war ensued” for McLaughlin. McLaughlin his considered by some to be “the most marketable woman track star of all time.”
She announced the news on social media Monday and told her followers New Balance has been with her from the beginning “and we’re going to ride to the end.”
“New Balance has a long-standing history as an excellent running company and they are the perfect partner for me,” McLaughlin said in a press release. “I’m thrilled to join the Team New Balance family, a brand that not only shares the same values and principles that are important to me, but also supports its athletes on and off the track.”
McLaughlin, 19, started at Kentucky last fall with perhaps more hype than any student-athlete who attended the university. When she was 17 years old, she became the youngest track and field athlete to make the U.S. Olympic team since 1980; she finished as a semifinalist in the 400-meter hurdles.
She won 13 New Balance Nationals Indoor and Outdoor Championships while in high school and joined Peyton Manning and LeBron James as one of three two-time recipients of the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award.
And when she arrived in Lexington, the New Jersey native did not slow down. In only her third meet as a collegian, McLaughlin set the NCAA record in the 400 hurdles and she later won that event at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships by more than two seconds.
After winning her NCAA title, McLaughlin announced her intentions to go pro.
The versatility of McLaughlin — who also shines in the 200-meter and 400-meter runs — rivals that of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, according to NBC Sports.
NBC Sports’ Ato Boldon believes McLaughlin will challenge the world record in the 400-meter hurdles. Her personal record of 52.75 seconds is just 0.41 seconds off the pace of Russia’s Yuliya Pechonkina, who broke the record in 2003.
“Sydney McLaughlin is about to be what Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner) would have been if she was starting out right now in this era,” Boldon said. “She has the look. She has the performance ... It’s going to be an exciting time to watch her race.”
The terms of McLaughlin’s contract with New Balance were not disclosed.
This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 7:59 AM.