Debut at 2:05?! What makes you think she would debut slower than other female 400m runners like Bela Whittaker and Brit Wilson who did 2.02 indoors? Indeed Anna Hall looks capable of sub 2 and she trains for the heptathlon
Strange to me. She has it in the bag in the hurdles for awhile. If she does become great the 800ms then the closest thing to her would be Athing when she was young and killing it in both events. Wild tho
I think this is SUPER exciting news; very much looking forward to seeing what she can do. As other posters have mentioned, 2026, a year with no global championships, will be a perfect year to begin the transition. There will be an adaptation period and I think no one should expect her to achieve anything earth shattering, but that said I think it's fair to expect we will at least get a taste of her prospects in the event. Worst case she finds she's just not suited to it but will have garnered a nice year or two of more strength based work she could use if she finds herself needing to move back down to the 400 (flat or hurdles).
I love an athlete who is up for a challenge, and this is a big one from one of my absolute favorites in the sport, and if she succeeds, how exciting will that be?!? Go Femke!!!
You are so far off it's not even funny! I'd say between 1:53 and 2:30. ;-)
Jesus, there are some f-ing morons on this board. Get real. There's no way on earth she's running faster than 1:43 (Coe) and it takes a special kind of LR weirdo to think she won't break 3:00. I'm going with 1:43 in the Olys although I can see some early DL blowups around 2:40-2:50. That's just science.
You are so far off it's not even funny! I'd say between 1:53 and 2:30. ;-)
Jesus, there are some f-ing morons on this board. Get real. There's no way on earth she's running faster than 1:43 (Coe) and it takes a special kind of LR weirdo to think she won't break 3:00. I'm going with 1:43 in the Olys although I can see some early DL blowups around 2:40-2:50. That's just science.
Ha! I can see this getting out of hand very quickly... ;-)
Super brave. And definitely nothing to do with dodging Sydney.
It has everything to do with doging SML. If Bol wasn't dodging, she would have gone for the 400 flat. We are told by her sycophants, that her relay splits are indicative of her flat 400 speed. Prove it I say. Challenge Sydney, Paulino and Naser for that gold. Woman up and stop dodging.
I think this is SUPER exciting news; very much looking forward to seeing what she can do. As other posters have mentioned, 2026, a year with no global championships, will be a perfect year to begin the transition. There will be an adaptation period and I think no one should expect her to achieve anything earth shattering, but that said I think it's fair to expect we will at least get a taste of her prospects in the event. Worst case she finds she's just not suited to it but will have garnered a nice year or two of more strength based work she could use if she finds herself needing to move back down to the 400 (flat or hurdles).
I love an athlete who is up for a challenge, and this is a big one from one of my absolute favorites in the sport, and if she succeeds, how exciting will that be?!? Go Femke!!!
I thought that maybe Bol had at least an idea of what she may be capable of in the 800, as it would make sense before a big announcement like this. However, I just watched Keely’s post Athlos interview and she is asked about Bol who she says had already informed her, and Keely mentioned that Bol has no middle distance experience. If I was Bol, I would have held off on this announcement before some mid distance specific training and a time trial to see where I am at. Jumping in head first is certainly brave, but now it has instantly created all the fan and press expectations. Jeremy Wariner tried moving up to the 800 and was terrible. Yes I know he was older, but still. If Bol sucks at the 800, she will be embarrassed and ridiculed, especially on this board where posters never let up and will not cut her a break. Sydney fanatics will be cheering in front of their screens. Just my take. But one does have to give her all of the credit in the world for taking such a risk and gamble. It is courageous, no doubt.
Bol's teammate Saalberg had a little 800m outing this season and she ran 2:02.97. Saalberg is typically a 51 mid runner in the 400 and this was just a casual outing for her. I personally think it's mad to think Bol won't immediately break 2 minutes on her first race with a pacer if she focuses on the event.
F. Bol is moving to the 800m out of necessity to gain strength. Remember the Olympics are a couple years away, she can still return to the 400 hurdles. Sydney left for the 400m this year and Bol trying the 800m next year doesn't mean either have abandon the 400 hurdles forever. Bol needs the extra strength as Sydney new found 47.78 speed is something Bol knows she can't match; therefore, greater endurance is her only option to even slightly contempt beating a POTENTIAL sub 50 400m hurdler in Sydney.
Agree with you.
What I find hilarious is the claim that she will run world class sub 1:57 times in a year. A hilarious claim by the same posters, who when they cannot find any logical argument as to why she is still 1 second slower than Sydney in the 400MH, resort to she has not been running the 400H as long as Sydney has. Even though she has been doing it for at least 7 years. So in 7 years she is still 1 second slower in an event she has dedicated quite a bit of time to, but is suddenly going to run sub 1:57 in a year in a non adjacent event.
I suppose anything is possible.
If only Athing nee Mu, would get rid of Kersee and get back to what she does oh so very well....
Super brave. And definitely nothing to do with dodging Sydney.
It has everything to do with doging SML. If Bol wasn't dodging, she would have gone for the 400 flat. We are told by her sycophants, that her relay splits are indicative of her flat 400 speed. Prove it I say. Challenge Sydney, Paulino and Naser for that gold. Woman up and stop dodging.
Honestly, and I’m not saying you are wrong. You have a point. I look at this to some extent as an act of humility. Bol knows now after watching SML run that 47ish second fastest flat W400 of all time, that she does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Sydney as long as Sydney is healthy. Bol knows if she goes to the flat 4 she will finish outside the medals. So why not try the 8? She already has done her max at 400h with Sydney in the event. Now she is likely underestimating the 8, which is a whole other issue to be discussed some other time, but one still has to give her props for what looks to be essentially throwing in the towel against SML and at least willing to try a new event to see how she can contend.
I think this is SUPER exciting news; very much looking forward to seeing what she can do. As other posters have mentioned, 2026, a year with no global championships, will be a perfect year to begin the transition. There will be an adaptation period and I think no one should expect her to achieve anything earth shattering, but that said I think it's fair to expect we will at least get a taste of her prospects in the event. Worst case she finds she's just not suited to it but will have garnered a nice year or two of more strength based work she could use if she finds herself needing to move back down to the 400 (flat or hurdles).
I love an athlete who is up for a challenge, and this is a big one from one of my absolute favorites in the sport, and if she succeeds, how exciting will that be?!? Go Femke!!!
I thought that maybe Bol had at least an idea of what she may be capable of in the 800, as it would make sense before a big announcement like this. However, I just watched Keely’s post Athlos interview and she is asked about Bol who she says had already informed her, and Keely mentioned that Bol has no middle distance experience. If I was Bol, I would have held off on this announcement before some mid distance specific training and a time trial to see where I am at. Jumping in head first is certainly brave, but now it has instantly created all the fan and press expectations. Jeremy Wariner tried moving up to the 800 and was terrible. Yes I know he was older, but still. If Bol sucks at the 800, she will be embarrassed and ridiculed, especially on this board where posters never let up and will not cut her a break. Sydney fanatics will be cheering in front of their screens. Just my take. But one does have to give her all of the credit in the world for taking such a risk and gamble. It is courageous, no doubt.
Sydney fanatics only get involved with anything Bol, when Bol's sycophants attempt to denigrate Sydney's accomplishments or put them in the same class when they are clearly not. Leave Sydney alone, and you will not hear a peep out of them. If Bol fails at the 800, Sydney's fanatics won't give a dam. I suspect though that if Bol fails at this distance, Bol's sycophants will continue to make every excuse in the book while willfully ignoring the obvious fact that while she may be a good athlete, there is or are those who are superior.
It has everything to do with doging SML. If Bol wasn't dodging, she would have gone for the 400 flat. We are told by her sycophants, that her relay splits are indicative of her flat 400 speed. Prove it I say. Challenge Sydney, Paulino and Naser for that gold. Woman up and stop dodging.
Honestly, and I’m not saying you are wrong. You have a point. I look at this to some extent as an act of humility. Bol knows now after watching SML run that 47ish second fastest flat W400 of all time, that she does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Sydney as long as Sydney is healthy. Bol knows if she goes to the flat 4 she will finish outside the medals. So why not try the 8? She already has done her max at 400h with Sydney in the event. Now she is likely underestimating the 8, which is a whole other issue to be discussed some other time, but one still has to give her props for what looks to be essentially throwing in the towel against SML and at least willing to try a new event to see how she can contend.
I don't really see her as underestimating the 8 though; number one, where else is she going to go with it, and number two, I've seen nothing in her public statements indicating she thinks it's going to be anything but a huge challenge. Regardless of how she breaks this news to the public, she is risking a very high profile failure if this goes badly for her, and that alone takes some guts. I imagine she and her coaches must already have at least a halfway decent idea of whether or not she has the tools to do well in the event; they aren't just diving off a cliff with a blindfold on.
Anyway, I digress, as I mentioned last night, in the 400h we should pay attention to Savannah Sutherland. If Syd & Femke are no longer going to be doing the 400h, Sutherland will be the future of the event. JMO, of course.
There are those that say Syd will double in the 400 & 400h in LA. That is not feasible, especially if she has relay duty thrown in. The more logical double for her is the 400 & 200. By LA Bol will have plenty of time to know how she is going to fare vs the best in the 800 and if it looks like she is going to be mid or worse she’ll have plenty of time to hone for the 400h and her muscle memory will make it seem as if she never took a pause.
It has everything to do with doging SML. If Bol wasn't dodging, she would have gone for the 400 flat. We are told by her sycophants, that her relay splits are indicative of her flat 400 speed. Prove it I say. Challenge Sydney, Paulino and Naser for that gold. Woman up and stop dodging.
Honestly, and I’m not saying you are wrong. You have a point. I look at this to some extent as an act of humility. Bol knows now after watching SML run that 47ish second fastest flat W400 of all time, that she does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Sydney as long as Sydney is healthy. Bol knows if she goes to the flat 4 she will finish outside the medals. So why not try the 8? She already has done her max at 400h with Sydney in the event. Now she is likely underestimating the 8, which is a whole other issue to be discussed some other time, but one still has to give her props for what looks to be essentially throwing in the towel against SML and at least willing to try a new event to see how she can contend.
I can get behind this reasoned analysis. I gave Sydney props for trying something new. And waited to see how she would perform. I did not think she would win gold at Worlds, and definitely not win in the 2nd fastest time ever run. I did not think any woman could run sub 48 much less 47.7
I will do the same with Bol by giving her props and waiting to see what time she runs.
Her coach Meuwly hinted today that Femke's 50.95 was probably the limit of her ability ("it was going to be difficult to beat that"), so that lack of a PB goal could also be a reason.
He also says running a fast time will not be that difficult on the 800m, but the actual challenge is winning a tactical race.
It was also getting harder for Femke to gain motivation for running Diamond Leagues.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.