EUGENE, Ore. -- Sydney McLaughlin shattered her world record by a whopping 0.73 seconds Friday, blazing through the 400-meter hurdles in 50.68 seconds for her first career gold medal at world championships.

The 22-year-old obliterated the field in setting the first world record of these championships. More impressively, it marked the fourth straight major race in which she's bettered the mark.

"It's unreal,'' McLaughlin said in the post-race interview on the track.

Femke Bol of the Netherlands finished second in 52.27 -- that's a 1.59-second difference -- and defending world champion Dalilah Muhammad finished third in 53.13 -- a time that would've won the race going away a mere seven years ago.

McLaughin had left Bol and Muhammad behind at the 150-meter mark, and by the time the American reached the final curve, it was clear this would strictly be a race against the clock.

When she finished, she bent to the ground, looked at the scoreboard and said, "That's great.''

"Honestly, I just wanted to run and go for it,'' she said. "That last 100 really hurt."

The 400-hurdles record had sat on the books for 16 years when Muhammad lowered it to 52.20 at U.S. championships in Iowa in 2019.

Since then, either she or McLaughlin have broken it at every major meet: Muhammad at 2019 worlds (52.16), then McLaughlin at last year's Olympic trials (51.90), the Olympics (51.46), nationals this year (51.41), and, now, this.

McLaughlin has now set three of those four records on this very track at Hayward Stadium. She has turned what used to be the best one-on-one showdown in sports -- her vs. Muhammad -- into a one-woman show for the time being.

The big question is, how? Some answers lie in the mix of improved track surfaces, new technology in the spikes that hurdling great Edwin Moses compared to "having trampolines on your shoes,'' and a new coaching regimen employed by Bobby Kersee in the run-up to last year's Olympics.

But mostly, pure talent.