It appears she is using this as a testing run for a new step pattern. Which probably accounts for a slower time than expected after that indoor world record. It also looks like she messed up the pattern near the end.
While letsrun is fawning over Leo Young's (honestly amazing) 5k high school record, wanted to point out that over in Belgium at the IFAM Meeting in Oordegem, Dutch 18yo Niels Laros (who broke Ingebrigtsens U18 1500m record la...
Secondly, this was Bol's first race with 14 strides until hurdle 7 and alternating legs. They chose this "small" meet specially and she was unannounced to test new config before DL, where as she said people would watch and there is a pressure. After hurdle 7 it became a mess as she said in interview and she stumbled on hurdle 9.
Anyway (very good) Britton has no chance with Femke. Bol is going for 2nd all time this season, beating Dalilah Muhammad's 51.58. That's Femke's level.
In my opinion, however, she will never run hurdles as SML, she is too tall and do not have such fantastic physical coordination as SML. So there is no need for constant comparisons on letsrun.
Anyway Wilson is even worse hurdler than Bol but it looks like Muhammad is totally without form this year after her 55.72 in Rabat DL. So Britton has very big chance for bronze at Worlds.
Interesting, I thought runners preferred to hurdle with their dominant leg until they got tired and not the other way around.
I can see arguments for both camps
Lead off with alternating lead legs so that when you are tired you can slow down to add in a step between hurdles and fall back onto your preferred leg
Leading with your preferred leg to get over the first 7 hurdles as quickly as possible before the hydrogen ion accumulation starts to get you then go over the remaining hurdles with alternating legs until the finish
53.1 is world class, I can see her opening up for real in 51.5-52.5 with some actual competition after setting the world indoor record over 400m
Every time she do a performance, it's a national anthem of LRC threads
and guess the poor forgotten guy of yesterday that has thrown the best performance since 2012 ... and the two Americans that stole all the lights since 2016 (who will hear of them).
Paulino is clearly not messing around, but I’d hope Bol would still focus on the 400. Like a previous poster said, she doesn’t appear to be perfectly built for the event like Sydney.
It appears she is using this as a testing run for a new step pattern. Which probably accounts for a slower time than expected after that indoor world record. It also looks like she messed up the pattern near the end.
Bol actually went out fairly quickly for a kinks race. She stumbled around over the final 2 barriers with 16 steps apiece and required 15.8 seconds from hurdle 8 to finish, compared to her typical 15 flat.
That means she reached hurdle 8 at 37.3, which is very good considering McLaughlin and Bol arrived at hurdle 8 at 37.0 in Tokyo, with Muhammad about 1.5 meters ahead.
Sydney took it to a ridiculous level last year, arriving at hurdle 8 in 36.0 at Eugene. Bol will never manage that level, given her height and slight awkwardness as a hurdler, but this tuneup race indicates the new 14 stride pattern should allow her to go much faster over the first 7 barriers.
Then it's just a matter of holding it together. The 14 strides is more of a harsher reaching reality than shorter strides with more bend in the knees throughout. Consequently I'm not surprised Bol had more trouble than she expected coming home. She shook her head in minor disgust not long after crossing the finish line.
Challenging Muhammad's 51.58 second fastest performer is a reasonable goal for Bol this year. She can't do anything about Sydney's level.
BTW, the timer at lower right was screwed up in that race. That's why some of the splits are estimates. The timer reads 53.9 when Bol reaches the finish line. That was wrong. A stopwatch version indicated the lower number is correct.
In general, these are good times for women's 400 mH because in the past women competing in the event were relatively slow 400 flat runners. For me it's even like those women competed in 400 mH because they had no chance in 400 flat. But current generation of female hurdles is very fast for flat event. First was Dalilah Muhammad with her 52.16 mH WR at Doha 2019. She has "only" 50.60 old PR flat but clocked a good 48.94 split in relay in Tokyo 2021. Then SML is a very fast 400 flat runner as is Bol and Wilson. They are in strict top and all can compete for medals in open 400. SML is overhyped by Americans for flat WR which will not happen but sure she is 48 (possibly 48 low) capable as is Bol. Wilson already clocked 49.13 collegiate record so sub 49 looks maybe even easily possible.
Secondly, this was Bol's first race with 14 strides until hurdle 7 and alternating legs. They chose this "small" meet specially and she was unannounced to test new config before DL, where as she said people would watch and there is a pressure. After hurdle 7 it became a mess as she said in interview and she stumbled on hurdle 9.
Anyway (very good) Britton has no chance with Femke. Bol is going for 2nd all time this season, beating Dalilah Muhammad's 51.58. That's Femke's level.
In my opinion, however, she will never run hurdles as SML, she is too tall and do not have such fantastic physical coordination as SML. So there is no need for constant comparisons on letsrun.
Anyway Wilson is even worse hurdler than Bol but it looks like Muhammad is totally without form this year after her 55.72 in Rabat DL. So Britton has very big chance for bronze at Worlds.
You ask not to compare Femke's form to Sydney's on Lets Run, but has compared her twice to Britton? Stop with the bias, because eventually Britton will give Femke a run for her money.
BOL Femke NED 49.44 BROSSIER Amandine FRA 51.21 WHITNEY Kaylin USA 53.29 50.29 BOLINGO Cynthia BEL 50.19 SAALBERG Eveline NED 51.22 JONATHAS Wadeline USA 52.17 49.60 MÜLLER Laura GER 52.40 51.69 NEKHUBUI Shirley RSA 51.80 51.80
SML has been a no show for almost a year now. I will be personally shocked if she even attempts a race this year, let alone a 400h. I know she's slated to run a flat 400 soon, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Arguably one of the brightest stars in the sport refusing to compete... As of right now, it's Femke Bol, Shamier Little, and everyone else
In a pre meet interview, Bol said she is back in training & not near her peak, so don't expect a sub 49 run from her.
She's also running the hurdles on Friday so that's 3 races in one week which is about as much as Levrone runs in a year (for obvious reasons). Nevertheless 49.26 WR from 3 months ago she has obviously raised her talent level and could still have residual training behind her that might surprise.
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