Bol clearly has a mental block when racing against SML. She looks so comfortable and dominant running her best times in the DL and winning everything. Same with this worlds with a dominant win. But she lines up against Sydney and goes out way too hard and gets crushed to the point that she doesnt even get silver. Credit to her for the bravery for sure, but she clearly didn't share her fans confidence that she could win the race in Paris.
If you thought Bol was getting closer to SML prior to Paris your fandom is showing. SML might have broken 50 had she run it at the same track Bol ran under 51.
SML's WR was 50.68 since 2022 and she improved on that with a 50.65 at trials 2024. Since 2022 Bol went from a PB of 52.03, to a 51.45 in 2023 and 50.95 (51.30 if you've got problems with that official time) in 2024.
Of course you have to keep in mind that SML was aiming for the flat 400m in 2023 and perfectly peaked in 2024 at the Olympics. But purely based on times ran before Paris, Bol was improving on her PB and Sydney hardly improved on hers. So before Paris Bol was actually getting closer to SML's PB by at least 0.7s.
However, a lot of media (mostly without track knowledge) took that fact and created an unfounded hype around Bol vs. SML, suggesting Bol could win. We all know that ended when Bol fumbled her race and lost by a huge margin, but that doesn't change the fact that since 2022 she has made up some ground.
SML didn't run the event in 2023. Her absence gave the Bol fans something to root for. Once SML ran the event in 2024 her "getting closer" ended despite the pretzel twisting some Bol fans went into.
It's a shame because Bol seems like a great person and is a great athlete. Let's just deal with reality.
SML's WR was 50.68 since 2022 and she improved on that with a 50.65 at trials 2024. Since 2022 Bol went from a PB of 52.03, to a 51.45 in 2023 and 50.95 (51.30 if you've got problems with that official time) in 2024.
Of course you have to keep in mind that SML was aiming for the flat 400m in 2023 and perfectly peaked in 2024 at the Olympics. But purely based on times ran before Paris, Bol was improving on her PB and Sydney hardly improved on hers. So before Paris Bol was actually getting closer to SML's PB by at least 0.7s.
However, a lot of media (mostly without track knowledge) took that fact and created an unfounded hype around Bol vs. SML, suggesting Bol could win. We all know that ended when Bol fumbled her race and lost by a huge margin, but that doesn't change the fact that since 2022 she has made up some ground.
SML didn't run the event in 2023. Her absence gave the Bol fans something to root for. Once SML ran the event in 2024 her "getting closer" ended despite the pretzel twisting some Bol fans went into.
It's a shame because Bol seems like a great person and is a great athlete. Let's just deal with reality.
Next time they race Sydney will probably go sub 50