Femke Bol finds it a shame that she won’t have to contend with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400-meter hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in September. The Olympic champion is focusing on the 400-meter flat race, but Bol would have preferred it otherwise.
“As an athletics enthusiast, I think it’s cool that she’s going to do the 400 flat, but for me, it’s a shame,” Bol said on Sunday after the Dutch National Athletics Championships to NOS. “Disappointing might be too strong a word, but as an athlete, I really like to race against her. It just hasn’t happened often.”
Bol and McLaughlin have only met three times on the highest stage: the 2021 Olympic Games, the 2022 World Championships final, and the 2024 Olympic Games. All three times, McLaughlin-Levrone outdid her contemporary Bol.
In recent years, the American has become a phenomenon in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin-Levrone broke the world record six times. She ran her fastest time at the last Olympic Games in Paris. She won gold in a time of 50.37. Bol then took the bronze in a time of 52.15.
“It remains unique to race against her,” Bol said full of praise for her great rival. “She is the best ever in the event that I do, so it remains special. I really like to race against her, even though the chance is very high that I will be second.”
Klaver not afraid of McLaughlin
Due to McLaughlin’s absence, Bol’s chances at the World Championships in September are increased. Two years ago, the Amersfoort native won the world title in the absence of the injured McLaughlin.
For Bol’s compatriot Lieke Klaver, McLaughlin’s decision is less favorable. If McLaughlin secures a World Championships ticket for the 400-meter flat race, the Dutch athlete will have a formidable competitor at the World Championships in Tokyo.
But Klaver isn’t too worried about that. “At a World Championships, there are always three strong American athletes. I don’t care what their names are. I only look at what they run and what time I have to run,” Klaver told NOS.