Sure.. SML is the goat. Just don’t play down Femke’s achievements coming from a country 20 times smaller than the US. The 400mh time in Tokyo for example would have been WR 6 years ago.
Sure.. SML is the goat. Just don’t play down Femke’s achievements coming from a country 20 times smaller than the US. The 400mh time in Tokyo for example would have been WR 6 years ago.
I know Bol is phenomenal, I'm not seriously trying to downplay anything
I am a big Femke fan, but I thought she did not look all out on her 4x400m leg. Maybe she saw that she wasn't going to catch the U.S. and figured no point. Anyone know wat her leg was?
I am a big Femke fan, but I thought she did not look all out on her 4x400m leg. Maybe she saw that she wasn't going to catch the U.S. and figured no point. Anyone know wat her leg was?
It definitely seemed that way and I totally get that with her experience she will know when it's possible or not to close a gap. What surprised me more is the lack of drive to go faster just because you want a fast time.
I get that, coming from such a small country, she's probably been told to secure a medal whenever she can. It's a shame the result is her playing it safe all the time. She didn't push at all in the mixed relay (50 split), she didn't open hard enough in the hurdles to even make a sub 51 possible and she didn't try to split 48 in the women's relay even though that would have resulted in a national record.
If the Dutch don't stop pressing her into getting 50% of their medal count, she might not be able to progress/improve much at all when it comes to global championships.
Astonishing athlete. Can't wait to see what she brings next year.
The Dutch have many truly like able athletes and Bol tops the list. Easy to root for her. Sydney is the goat, but her reluctance to smile is hard to take. The complete package, of course, is Hassan. She smiles, she laughs, she wins. When she wins NY in November, it will be marvelous.
I'm obviously a Femke stan, but regardless, I never understand the whole "oh she's not as good as Sydney/she'll never beat her/she'll never be as fast/her gold isn't worth anything".
It's like saying Lyles 200m golds are nothing because they aren't as fast as Bolt's, or Gabby Thomas's Olympic gold is worthless because Elaine Thompson & Shericka Jackson were not there.
You can only beat who is in the race. Bol has beaten the women who were on the start line and won (another) World gold. She couldn't do any more, medal-wise, in that event this Champs.
Her times are not Sydney times, but she is the second fastest woman of all-time, who just happens to have the bad luck of competing at the same time against the woman who is the fastest of all time.
As for head-to-heads, if Kersee were to let Sydney compete on the Diamond League circuit like every other elite athlete, I am not so sure the head-to-head would all be in Sydney's favour. If they had met 10, 15, 20 times over the last 4 or 5 seasons on the DL, I am sure Bol could have won some of them. But Kersee won't risk top competition until he feels Sydney is ready and he restricts her racing. That is not Bol's fault.
So, props to Bol where it's due. 3 more World medals to add to the 2 World medals from 2023 and the 1 World medal from 2022. All to be added to her 3 Olympic medals from last season and her 1 Olympic medal from 2021. Whatever happens from now on, she can look back and be pretty pleased with her career.
I am a big Femke fan, but I thought she did not look all out on her 4x400m leg. Maybe she saw that she wasn't going to catch the U.S. and figured no point. Anyone know wat her leg was?
49.10
Klaver actually ran a faster split with 49.08
But yeah, I think Bol realized it was futile
She basically said this in post race interviews. Also, her coach Laurent Meuwly tweeted after the mixed 4x4 that Holmes was just too far ahead (basically 2 seconds at the exchange), and whilst Femke could have run faster, the assumption was Holmes would also run faster if she sensed she was being caught.
So whilst on paper the winning margin ended up being 1 second & Bol only ran 50.0, had Bol run 49.0, Holmes would have run 50.0 at least instead of the 50.7 she did to secure the gold.
On the women's 4x4, Bol knew she was clear in third, but she was also aware Pryce is a quality athlete. I'm sure Pryce was also aware Bol was behind her, so whilst she knew she couldn't catch Sydney, she was 'running scared' with Bol behind her. I thought Pryce ran a brilliant leg. Also, I reckon Bol was in around 49.0 form on the flat here. Not that much faster than Pryce's form here (49.4 in the SF). Bol could probably have run a 48.2 leg based off that, so Jamaica would still have won regardless.
I think that on a good day, Pryce is as good as Bol. Pryce is inconsistent and very slight, and she's in that awkward first year out of NCAA, but she's run mid-48, which Bol never has, and she ran a faster leg today.
It definitely seemed that way and I totally get that with her experience she will know when it's possible or not to close a gap. What surprised me more is the lack of drive to go faster just because you want a fast time.
I get that, coming from such a small country, she's probably been told to secure a medal whenever she can. It's a shame the result is her playing it safe all the time. She didn't push at all in the mixed relay (50 split), she didn't open hard enough in the hurdles to even make a sub 51 possible and she didn't try to split 48 in the women's relay even though that would have resulted in a national record.
If the Dutch don't stop pressing her into getting 50% of their medal count, she might not be able to progress/improve much at all when it comes to global championships.
Empirical evidence has shown Bol is incapable of running sub 51 at sea level.