McLaughlin's best season came in 1988. With a pre-season best of 57.48 secs in 1987, she ran 56.22 to win the second of her three UK Championship titles in June 1988, improved her best to 56.09 in August 1988, when finishing second to Sally Gunnell at the AAA Championships/Olympic trials, earning Olympic selection, and ended the season achieving a lifetime best of 55.91 in the semifinals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in September. This performance ranked her second on the UK all-time list at that time, and still (as of 2018) ranks her 12th on the UK all-time list and remains the Northern Irish record.[4]