Dutch track coach is an idiot

Klaver and Bol are about to attempt an absolutely audacious Olympic campaign. Not making the European final is gonna be the least of their concerns if Bol is out of gas by the time she gets to the Olympic 400mh final.

What are the rules on replacement of athletes between heats and finals?

I have it in my head you can replace one of each sex in the mixed relay and two in 'normal' relays, is that correct?

What audacious campaign? Bol will run the hurdles and 4x4 relay and Klaver will run the 400 and relay. Nothing else. High school kids run that.

With the Dutch it doesn't matter. The key legs in both relays are Klaver and Bol and they only need one of them in the heats to make qualifying more of a certainty. Plus I wouldn't run them in the mixed at all, it's a JV event and not part of the Olympic program.

Nonsense its on the 4th and 5th Aug in Paris with heats and finals.

Its not the blue riband event but calling it JV is BS too. An Olympic medal is an Olympic medal and not to be sniffed at

Is that a relatively new rule? I remember the US 4x4 just putting in their B-team during qualifications and a completely fresh A-team in the final just a few years ago

4 x 400 women's, 4 x 400 mixed, and their individual events. Assuming a heat, semi and final that's 9 runs each in a period of 8 days.

Dutch coaches have clearly put a lower priority on the women's 4x400 at the Euros, otherwise they wouldn't gamble putting a B team out into the heats without Bol, Klaver or Peeters. Bol and Peeters have their hurdles final tonight, and Klaver just came out of a 400m final.

All of this is with the intention of not exhausting them for the Olympics. Bol has mentioned before that she's exhausted after running multi disciplines at major events so that's why.

Also re: the mixed relay. It's a potential Olympic medal so it's very important. The Netherlands average about 1 (one) T&F medal per Olympics so every single one counts. Throwing away potential silvers and bronze for a slightly improved chance at a (very difficult) gold is kind of a USA mindset because you guys get two dozen medals per Olympics anyway.

I'm wrong. i went and found it

Rule 24.10, Up to four additional athletes may be used as substitutes

4 replacements for the single sex relays. Only 1 replacement for the mixed relay.

Laurent Meuwly was never intending to run Bol in the w4x4 hts because of the 400mh final being that evening. Peeters was very much a 'wait and see' - had she not made the 400mh final she would have run in the heats. Re Klaver, they wanted to wait and see what the draw was for the heats before they decided to run her or not. They had a relatively easy heat (on paper....) and were clearly top 3. However, I do think their performance at the World Relays, where they Q for the Olympics without Klaver or Bol, gave them a false sense of confidence. But that foursome included Peeters, who ran a 50.5 leg and of course she was replaced by van de Wiel here, who only ran a 51.91 leg. In addition, running van de Wiel on leg 2 was a mistake, it meant they effectively started with two 52 legs. Van der Schoot should have been on leg 2. Anyway, they made it, and presumably the final will be Peeters > Klaver > Lisanne DW > Bol. That should be enough to beat Ireland, but who knows, the Irish have been well peaked here.

Coach Meuwly is widely known as one of the best in the world, and an unregistered Lets Runner says he is an idiot. Perfect!

I'd put Becker, Adeleke, Healy and Mawdsley up against that quartet no bother and may the best team win.

Bol can do it. There is adequate rest between her races:

Aug 2 Mixed Relay -R1 she doesn't have to run this. Let Klavier run

Aug 3: Mixed Relay Final - She can run this.

Aug 4: 400H R1

Aug 6: 400H Semi

Aug 8: 400H Final

Aug 9: 4x4 R1 - She nor Klavier have to run this

Aug 10: 4x4 Final

Bol will likely have to run both relay heats. Mixed only allows one swap (probably Bonevacia), and without Bol or Klaver you run a huge risk not making the final in women's relay.

Keep in mind that with the extraordinary depth in the womens events these days, Klaver and Bol are both gonna need to go near all-out in most of their runs. Bol is gonna be up against SML, and Klaver will likely need to run under 49 to medal. Every little bit of energy they can muster up is gonna matter.

Klaver:

Mixed 4x400 heats

Mixed 4x400 finals

400 heats

400 semis

400 finals

4x400 heats

4x400 finals

Bol:

Mixed 4x400 heats

Mixed 4x400 finals

400h heats

400h semis

400h finals

4x400 heats

4x400 finals

High school kids do NOT run 7 all-out 400s in 8 days*

this is an odd criticism.

Bol and Klaver have probably run more 400m races than any athletes in the last 3 years.

In Mixed Relay, you are allowed to swap 1. Hence have Klavier run the round, leave her in and swap out the other female athlete for Bol.

In the W4x4: You can replace the entire team. Bol doesn't have to run the elimination round.

I believe the risks are acceptable. You don't need to win your round. Just place 2nd to ensure you get through without the angst of time qualifying.

The Dutch qualified for the mixed 4x4 without Bol easily in 2023, and can do so again in Paris if they want to. It depends on who they want to rest, Bol or Bonevacia. The men's 400m heats (PM) & women's 400mh heats (AM) are the next day. Whilst I think Bol would be fine, she has the bigger chance of gold/silver, compared to Bonevacia. He is older now, so running 3 x 400s over 3 days might be too much by the time he gets to day 3 & his own individual race. So do they rest him for the mixed hts & run Bol, or rest her & run him?

Remember, there are two other factors as well: there will be no Dutch men's 4x4 in Paris, so they will potentially have a bigger pool to select from for the mixed. The men's 800m doesn't start until the Wednesday, for example, so if he's back in form (he's getting there..) Tony van Diepen might run the mixed instead of Bonevacia. Or he could run the ht or final, and Bonevacia the other (if Bol does both.) Van Diepen's an excellent relay runner when fit. The other positive as mentioned is the mixed heats and finals are over two days, rather then one. That massively helps recovery (Bonevacia has struggled running heat & final the same day) & with the day off after the mixed (for the w 400m) Klaver will certainly run both mixed heat and final.

So, the Dutch do have options. It's primarily a question of do they rest Bol or AN Other (Bonevacia?) because they can Q without Bol (see Eugene 22) if they want to.