What's next for Femke Bol?

Too bad Sydney's world record will continue to live in her head rent free for the next 4 years.

Honestly, I'm not sure she should run in the 4x400. She looks broken. She needs to get her head together and regroup. Fortunately for her, SML doesn't like to race, so she can pick up lots of DL wins.

She did get exposed LMFAO.

Now she knows she can't run when the intimidating presence and aura of Sydney McLaughlin is next to her. It's too much for her to handle.

Win some more and squeel some more.

Femke is unquestionably the 2nd best of all time in this event and a phenomenal talent. But she's starting to build a bit of a record of getting disrupted by the presence of people on her heels. There was the mixed relay in 2023 where Alexis Holmes was breathing down her neck, and Femke eventually fell. Possibly thrown off her rhythm.

Then today, you could make the argument that Syd's presence behind her on the stagger caused her to run the race suboptimally. And then she ran out of steam when Syd hit a new gear on the final straight, plus Anna Cockrell breathing down her neck on the other side.

I sure hope she'll run the 4 x 4

that lady loves relays more than the hurdles - she comes alive in them.

She loves running so much more than Syd in general.

Would be a great olympics to get three medals, that's for sure

not sure how competitive NED is in the W4x4 though.

I think her monster leg on the mixed 4x4 drained her tank somewhat. The 400h final was her fourth race of these Games.

SML races about half a dozen times a year and rarely outside of the US, so Bol will probably continue to clean up and make a good amount of $$$ winning DL events.

She continues to run and compete and enjoy it if this is her passion. Don't look down on her just because her fans on this bigoted site tend to be stupid.

She’ll go get the WR in the next year or so

The USA isn't competitive either this year.

Yes Sydney will. She's talking of sub 50 for the record.

She should move up to the 'thon.

Bol's biggest issue is how she deals with this mentally. She has had 6 straight years of remarkable progression. It makes no sense for someone with marginal athletic ability and natural speed. She is the most dedicated track and field athlete of this era but today it led her toward comparison and expectations that made no sense whatsoever in terms of raw ability.

This will be a jolt. I would expect greater variance in her results. She'll know it's hopeless against Sydney. Maybe she'll experiment with 800 next year, just for a different type of challenge. But the next big focus for her will be European Indoor Championships 2025, which will be hosted by the Netherlands.

The recent 50.95 and 51.30 were legitimately great efforts, even if overhyped toward competitiveness against Sydney. I expected something like 51.3 today. But going around that second turn it was obvious Bol had no snap.

Hopefully only fans bro

"She will probably shift focus to the mixed 400."

i like it, not a relay, just the mixed 400 - you run the first half identifying as female and the second half identifying as male.

I have a funny feeling she would better that 2:19 800 PR by a little bit if she raced the 800.

I would suspect that a sub 50 sec. 400 meter runner that is tall and skinny like Bol could put together a couple of 57s in the 800 with some proper training.

This article has some good quotes from Bol:

nos.nl

Bol ontroostbaar na brons: 'Kwam voor allerbeste race, liep een van de slechtste'

Femke Bol is ontroostbaar na haar derde plaats in de olympische finale van de 400 meter horden. "Ik weet dat ik véél beter ben dan dit."

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"I came here for the best race of my life. And I ran one of my worst. I really don't get it."

"After 250 meters it really didn't work anymore. It was an extra blow that someone then also came over me. I really didn't expect that."

"At the last hurdle I suddenly took an extra step, which is just stupid. I'm just annoyed about this."

"I also started hard in La Chaud-de-Fonds and London. I managed it then. I don't understand it. I got upset at the end when Anna Cockrell came over me. That was my own fault. In itself it was logical. I knew in advance that Sydney could run there and that I had to keep doing my thing. This is really annoying."

"I didn't have the idea that everything was slipping out of my hands at that moment. The acidification just hit me harder. When the finish came into sight, I even thought for a moment that I would come fourth. You can't be serious, that was all that went through my head."

And some quotes from her two coaches:

nos.nl

Droom van Bol ontaardt in nachtmerrie: 'In race om goud verliest ze zilver'

Femke Bol droomt van een tweestrijd met Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Ze verliest. Van de Amerikaanse, van Anna Cockrell en vooral: van zichzelf.

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It was all or nothing, Meuwly said afterwards. "Halfway through, Femke ran 0.3 seconds faster than during her personal record." She had no choice, it sounded almost apologetically. "She had to run like that in an attempt to win."

"An anticlimax," her other trainer Bram Peters called the final. "We trained for this for three years. We worked every day to make her a little bit better and to close the gap with McLaughlin. Today it had to happen. If it doesn't work out, it's painful. What remains for us is to gather courage and try to do better in four years' time in Los Angeles."

The final confirmed what Peters already knew. "McLaughlin comes from another planet. And so does Femke. Without McLaughlin, she would have been the greatest ever in the 400 hurdles. It's a shame for her that there is one person walking around who is just too good."

Next for Bol? Switch to the 400. Or if SML switches, stick with the 400H.