She may be queen of the women’s 400m hurdles, but Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will close her international track and field season in unusual style later this month.

The American, who lowered her one-lap hurdles world record to a scarcely believable 50.37 seconds (pending ratification) in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games final, is set to compete in a flat double at the season-ending Diamond League Final, the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels from 13-14 September.

Despite not having run in a Diamond League meet this year, organisers have extended wildcard invitations to McLaughlin-Levrone to compete in Brussels, where she will run in the 400m flat on Friday 13 September before taking part in the half-lap 200m race the following day.

It will be just the 25-year-old’s second 400m flat and third 200m race of the year, although McLaughlin-Levrone also ran on Team USA’s gold-medal-winning women’s 4x400m relay team at the Stade de France.

The two races will also be her only post-Olympics races this season.

McLaughlin-Levrone has competed over the 400m flat with moderate success in recent years, with her 48.74 personal best set at the USATF Outdoor National Championships in 2023 ranking her as the 12th-fastest woman all-time in the event.

However, the 200m is a rarer race for the American. Before her two races this year, which include her personal best 22.07, she last ran a competitive half-lap race in 2018, when she was still in college. The 22.07, set at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, ties her for 54th all time over the distance.