Femke Bol smashes her own European 400m hurdles record

07/14/2024 10:42 AM

The Dutch athlete clocks 50.95 at La Chaux-de-Fonds, which is the third quickest time in history

Femke Bol has sent quite the statement to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone after smashing her own European 400m hurdles record.

The 24-year-old Dutch athlete ran a staggering 50.95 at La Chaux-de-Fonds, winning by over 50m to the rest of the field.

Bol hasn’t just lowered her European record of 51.65 – set at last year’s London Diamond League – but also recorded the third quickest time in history.

Only McLaughlin-Levrone, with her respective world records of 50.65 and 50.68, has gone quicker in the 400m hurdles.

To put Bol’s time into perspective, it would also qualify her for the Olympics in the 400m flat.

With McLaughlin-Levrone focusing on the 400m hurdles at the Games, it sets up a battle between two athletics superstars in Paris.

Bol has had an amazing season so far.

At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, she claimed two golds in the 400m and 4x400m and set a world record over two laps indoors with 49.17.

Then, at the European Championships in Rome, Bol struck gold in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. In the mixed 4x400m, she anchored the Dutch team to a bronze medal, having been given too much ground to make up on the anchor leg.

It’s the perfect preparation for the Olympics, where she aims to get that coveted gold medal. At Tokyo 2020, Bol finished third on the podium behind McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad.

Bol has now changed her stride pattern from 15 to 14 strides between some of the hurdles. Her coach Laurent Meuwly told AW, back in December, that “it's about a 12cm difference in stride length”.

He added: “Progressively we pushed her stride a bit more and changed to having a more cruising way of running the first 200m, with longer strides.

“And then to change after seven hurdles to go to 15 – that was something completely different to what she has been used to. But, very quickly, she realised in training that this was the direction to go in.”

“I think she's also able to perform over 800m. She showed in Boston that she has this efficiency, and she's pretty good in all the endurance sessions because of it. I can imagine [the 800m] might also be an option.”

The women’s 400m hurdles heats at the Olympics is scheduled for August 4, the semi-finals on August 6 and the final on August 8.

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