I feel vindicated. She's a middle distance runner.
She is going to slay this event. She JOGGED that indoor 500 WR. Get ready.
Here is our article on the development.
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Hobby1jogger wrote:
Will be interesting to see if Gabby Thomas moves to 400M hurdles.
Well she did hint at that in a recent interview...
Imagine, Sydney moving to 400m, Bol moving to 800m, Thomas to 400mh...all we need now is a top 400m runner moving to 200m and the circle is complete.
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KerseesCabinet wrote:
Hobby1jogger wrote:
Will be interesting to see if Gabby Thomas moves to 400M hurdles.
Well she did hint at that in a recent interview...
Imagine, Sydney moving to 400m, Bol moving to 800m, Thomas to 400mh...all we need now is a top 400m runner moving to 200m and the circle is complete.
Syd will also be running the 200 - count on it. She’ll get down to Gabby Thomas & Allyson Felix range, 21.60 - 21.70.
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I commend her for being bold, but I don't see this working. The 400h is still a sprint, it is not as close to 800m as most people think, in fact I don't think it is any closer to the 800 than the flat 400. I think she currently has the speed/endurance to become a sub-2 athlete fairly quick, but getting down to 1:57x is going to be very difficult, and 1:55x I don't see as possible. The biggest problem is actually her speed, her 11.4 100m says she is too fast twitch.
From my experience with high school girls, sprinters can make good middle distance runners and even decent XC runners, but only at a certain level. On rare occasions you would get a sprinter who was lightly built and enjoyed the team aspect of XC and could score points on a team competing for a state championship. Over time you realize there a real difference between a sprinter and a distance runner. Girls that are true sprinters, they tend tap out if the pace is fast and steady from the beginning. I have had HS female sprinters who were sub-20 on a flat XC course, but they could not get much faster than that no matter hard they tried. Once you get past about 550, the 800 becomes aerobic, at that point it not just about your body, it is your mind's ability to fight through being lactic having over half a lap to go. The 800m is a bear, it is a different type of pain, and it can take years of learning to manage your thought knowing the pain in coming.216 -
I loved her announcement video. Very cool to see the types of things Bol writes in her notebooks.
This event transition is especially interesting in light of the change Bol made to her hurdling technique this year. Ultimately, that change didn't result in faster times as intended. Her 2025 SB of 51.54 was slower than what she had run in each of the two previous years. Perhaps Bol and her coach concluded she had reached her highest potential in the hurdles, so it makes sense for her to try a new event while she's still in her prime.
Kudos to Bol for having the courage to take on a new event, and congratulations to her on her fantastic accomplishments in the hurdles.
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Alberto Juantorena, Jeremy Wariner, only worked for one of them.
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Truly remarkabol
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TrackCoach wrote:
I commend her for being bold, but I don't see this working. The 400h is still a sprint, it is not as close to 800m as most people think, in fact I don't think it is any closer to the 800 than the flat 400.
It is closer to 800 than flat 400 because it takes longer to finish the race.
The intensity of effort is a function of duration in time, and not a function of distance covered.
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I’m not going to scroll through 7 pages of the thread, but has anyone pointed out that next year will be the first time in 8 years without an Olympics or worlds (I’m counting 2020 because the athletes were still preparing for it before to Covid).
If you’re going to try something wacky, 2026 is the season to do it. Plenty of time to decide it’s not working and go back to your main event before LA in 2028.
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lk984 wrote:
Article is in Dutch (translated via Google Exciting) but this is very exciting news.
Bol Says Goodbye to 400-Meter Hurdles and Chooses a New Adventure: the 800-Meter
Share this articleFemke Bol is saying goodbye to the 400-meter hurdles, the event in which she has celebrated great success in recent years. The two-time world champion in that distance will focus on the 800-meter hurdles.
"The 400-meter hurdles has given me so much, but I feel I want to push my limits," says Bol about her remarkable transition. "The 800-meter hurdles is a completely new challenge."
Last month, Bol won her second consecutive world title in the 400-meter hurdles in Tokyo, the distance she has repeatedly stated she has been "in love" with for years. She also won two bronze Olympic medals, in Tokyo and Paris.A Longer Journey
Ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Bol has a new goal. A goal without hurdles that lasts a lap longer. The athletics season ended last month with the World Championships. It's not yet known when Bol will compete in the 800 meters for the first time.
While the 400 meters is still considered a sprint event in athletics, the 800 meters is a transitional event to the longer distances. Bol: "I'm looking forward to it because it requires strength, strategy, and endurance."
Bol (25) doesn't have much experience in the 800 meters yet. Her personal best was 2:19.51, set at age 16 in a junior competition. For comparison: the Dutch record of Ellen van Langen – Olympic champion in the 800 meters in 1992 – is 1:55.54.
Bol's status in the 400 meters hurdles is quite different. Bol hasn't lost a Diamond League race in five years and, with a time of 50.95, is the second-fastest woman ever.Battle with McLaughlin-Levrone
Only American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has ever been faster (50.37). McLaughlin stood on the podium twice with Olympic gold, alongside bronze-winning Bol, who had never managed to beat her rival in three head-to-head meetings.
At the last World Championships, McLaughlin-Levrone opted for the 400 meters flat (without hurdles) and surprised everyone by not only winning gold but also closing in on the more than forty-year-old world record.
In recent years, Bol has been regularly asked if she would consider switching to the 400 meters flat as a new challenge, but in the run-up to the World Championships, she declined: "I just think it's one long lap." At the time, she described the 400 hurdles as her favorite event, followed by the relays, and only then the 400 meters flat.
It's not yet clear what McLaughlin will focus on at the Los Angeles Games. At the World Championships in Tokyo, she speculated on a combination of the 400-meter flat and the 400-meter hurdles.
Bol's choice for the 800 meters, an event that combines speed and tactics, means she no longer faces any competition from McLaughlin.
Yet, she will start with a different feeling and will also be viewed differently by her new challengers. Bol was world-class in the 400-meter hurdles for years. In the 800 meters, she still has much to prove.
LRC note: Here is our article on the development.
Kinda annoyed by all the haters of this already. Do you not remember Brandon Johnson? Patryk Dobek? Bol has better skill sets than both of them and it worked pretty damn well for them.
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Would surprise me alot if she won' t run new 800m WR within a couple of years .
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I wonder what they have done in training to give this a shot. Feels like if you haven’t run like a 1:58 800x or like 80s 600m that this is crazy… a 1:55 Bol would be epic. A 1:59 one would be a bit tragic…
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If true, not that surprising. After all, the only way to beat Syd would be to load up on drugs just like Syd. The Kersee Chemical Clown Show obviously has some powerful shoe money and more helping grease the skids behind the scenes, so it will keep rolling for some time to come.
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Femke did a short video interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS after this release. Nothing huge but did confirm a few things:
- She hasn't run an 800m since she was 16.
- Her coach and her both thought of doing this after the Paris Olympics, but decided to wait 1 more year.
- She sounded very final when talking about the 400mH, doesn't sound like she has any intention of returning.
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Would be hilarious to watch her quietly dominate the British women
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I love Femke, am surprised at this, but wholeheartedly am excited about it. It'd be great if she can duplicate her success at 400H, but if I had to bet I'd bet against. Still, as many have pointed out, nothing to lose in 2026 (with respect to championships). Go Femke!
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I am also very excited what Femke is cabable at the 800m.
A main "problem" for 400m sprinters changing to 800m is the maximum lactate building rate. If it is to high you cannot convert your 400m performance to the 800m properly.
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She needs a different coach, come train with a real coach like Ben Thomas. Also, sorry to break it to y'all but she's a sprinter.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.216 -
scrags wrote:
Makes some sense, given that she's in this weird no man's land of being a 2 time world champ in her event, but with a huge asterisk - that being there's one person who is streets ahead of her when she chooses to do it, and that she knows she will never beat.
It's a brave move and one I applaud, but I'm unsure how it'll play out. Can anyone think of a precedent, men or women, of someone moving from 400m to 800m at 25 or older, having had NO experience in anything over 400m prior to that? I'm not saying she can't do it, but it won't be the cakewalk some think. If she can go 1.57 within a year then I'll be impressed
Brandon Johnson moved from 400H to 800m. Pretty sure he did it when over age 25. Almost made the final in 2013 Moscow world champs at age 28. Ran 1:43.84 in 2013.
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