Femke Bol has despatched fairly the assertion to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone after smashing her personal European 400m hurdles document.
The 24-year-old Dutch athlete ran a staggering 50.95 at La Chaux-de-Fonds on Sunday (July 14), profitable by over 50m to the remainder of the sphere.
Bol hasn’t simply lowered her European document of 51.65 – set finally 12 months’s London Diamond League – but additionally recorded the third quickest time in historical past. Bol is about to return to London for the 2024 occasion this coming Saturday (July 20) too.
Solely McLaughlin-Levrone, together with her respective world data of fifty.65 and 50.68, has gone faster within the 400m hurdles.
To place Bol’s time into perspective, it might additionally qualify her for the Olympics within the 400m flat.
With McLaughlin-Levrone specializing in the 400m hurdles on the Video games, it units up a battle between two athletics superstars in Paris.
![](https://i0.wp.com/athleticsweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Sydney-McLaughlin-D-Muhammad-F-Bol.jpg?resize=950%2C560&ssl=1)
Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Femke Bol (Getty)
Bol has had a tremendous season to this point.
On the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, she claimed two golds within the 400m and 4x400m and set a world document over two laps indoors with 49.17.
Then, on the European Championships in Rome, Bol struck gold within the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. Within the blended 4x400m, she anchored the Dutch group to a bronze medal, having been given an excessive amount of floor to make up on the anchor leg.
It’s the right preparation for the Olympics, the place she goals to get that coveted gold medal. At Tokyo 2020, Bol completed third on the rostrum behind McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad.
Bol has now modified her stride sample from 15 to 14 strides between a few of the hurdles. Her coach Laurent Meuwly instructed AW, again in December, that “it’s a couple of 12cm distinction in stride size”.
![](https://i0.wp.com/athleticsweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Bol-with-time.jpg?resize=950%2C560&ssl=1)
Femke Bol (Getty)
He added: “Progressively we pushed her stride a bit extra and adjusted to having a extra cruising means of working the primary 200m, with longer strides.
“After which to vary after seven hurdles to go to fifteen – that was one thing fully completely different to what she has been used to. However, in a short time, she realised in coaching that this was the route to go in.”
“I feel she’s additionally in a position to carry out over 800m. She confirmed in Boston that she has this effectivity, and she or he’s fairly good in all of the endurance classes due to it. I can think about [the 800m] may additionally be an choice.”
The ladies’s 400m hurdles heats on the Olympics is scheduled for August 4, the semi-finals on August 6 and the ultimate on August 8.
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