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
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Femke 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.