Peabody’s MacLean comes ‘full circle’
Wins race on six-year anniversary of father's death
When The Track at New Balance — the new stateof-the-art indoor track and field facility that opened last year in Brighton — was being built, Heather MacLean noticed something familiar.
One of the beams on the facility had “Ironworkers Local 7” written on it. That was the union that her late father, Robert, worked for. It was helping build the new track facility that MacLean — the Peabody native and UMass alum who became an Olympian in 2021 and has blossomed into an American star in the sport — would soon call home.
On Saturday, she honored him in the most meaningful way possible.
The day marked the sixyear anniversary of MacLean’s father’s death from lung cancer. And in the first international competition in The Track’s history, MacLean won the women’s mile, narrowly edging Canada’s Lucia Stafford with a personal best and worldleading time of 4:23.42 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
“That was special to me, especially since today is the anniversary of his passing,” MacLean said. “I feel like it kind of came full circle.”
Saturday was a day MacLean had been visualizing for a long time. As a member of Team New Balance Boston, she trains regularly at The Track. She knew that the New Balance Grand Prix — one of the marquee events on the indoor circuit — would be coming there since it was being built. Last April, when the facility opened, she ran the 1200-meter leg on the team that broke the distance medley relay world record, and it gave her a taste of what Saturday would be like.
For MacLean, she had some home track advantage.
“I was just so happy lining up today,” said MacLean, who had lots of family and friends in the house. “It was almost like I felt so at peace.”
Completing the victory ultimately needed a resilient push in the final lap. MacLean led for most of the race — which was admittedly not her plan, “but it happened, and I’m happy it did,” MacLean said — before Stafford took the lead on the final turn. But MacLean responded on the final stretch, passing Stafford on the outside and crossing the tape before her by onetenth of a second.
“I was like, ‘Do I have it in me to keep going?’” MacLean said. “And as soon as she passed, I could see her in the camera, and I was like, ‘I definitely have it in me.’ …
“I was so close and I can’t accept second.”
Certainly not on Saturday, a day of destiny for MacLean at The Track.
“It had a lot of good energy today,” she said.
Lyles chases big goal
The most exciting race of
Saturday’s meet came in the men’s 60-meter final, where American star Noah Lyles narrowly edged Trayvon Bromell — 6.507 seconds to 6.509 seconds — for the title. After finishing and realizing he won, the charismatic and Adidas-sponsored Lyles appeared to yell, “This is my house!” before going into a lively celebration.
“This is my home now. This is mine,” Lyles said of The Track. “I won last year, won this year. This is mine now. I don’t know who New Balance is. This is Adidas now.”
Lyles won the world championship in the 200 meters last July, when he became the American record holder (previously held by Michael Johnson) and the third-fastest man in history in the event. He said his 60-meter win at last year’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix helped him figure out a difference that paid off in the outdoor 200m, and he had a similar feeling after Saturday’s win.
Lyles’ big goal in 2023 is to win double gold in both the 100m and 200m at the world championships in Budapest in August. Saturday’s victory was a big confidence-booster for him as he chases that.
“It soars, to be honest,” Lyles said.
Sydney McLaughlinLevrone has effectively become the face of American track and field. The 23-yearold was a teenage prodigy and has surpassed expectations by winning gold at the 2021 Olympics and 2022 World Championships in the 400-meter hurdles, an event that she continues to break world records in with mindboggling times.
So, it only made sense that McLaughlin-Levrone became the second track and field athlete and first since Usain Bolt in 2010 to be featured in a “This is SportsCenter” ad on ESPN, which was released this week. McLaughlin-Levrone said the making of the ad took many takes but acknowledged how important the commercial is for the exposure of her sport.
“My acting skills weren’t on par,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “It took about 50 (takes), but they got the right one. I thought it was a great idea. Just cool to kind of have track and field in that realm of other sports in the U.S. We don’t get enough shine, so it was cool to be able to do that.”
For the first time in her career, McLaughlin-Levrone competed in the women’s 60-meter dash at Saturday’s meet but failed to qualify for the final. She wasn’t disappointed. She said it served as a break to her training to do some sprinting as she and her coach Bobby Kersee figure out her outlook for 2023.
After dominating and mastering the 400-meter hurdles, there’s an expectation that McLaughlin-Levrone will pivot to the flat 400 to chase a 37-year-old world record. But she said Saturday that a final decision hasn’t been made yet.
“Bobby knows. I have no clue,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “I just show up every day and do what I’m told.
“I think it would be an awesome opportunity, but I don’t know if it’s what we’re planning to do or anything like that. Anything is on the table at this point.”