Femke Bol

Femke Bol showed her sprint talent from a young age, winning Dutch competitions in her age category. She won nine national youth titles between 2015 and 2019, eight in the 400 metres and one in the 400 m hurdles, setting Dutch under-18 records in both events.

At the international competitions, Bol progressed steadily. She did not advance from the heats in the 400 m at the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival. Two years later, at 17, she reached the semi-finals in the event at the 2017 European Under-20 Championships.

In 2019, her last junior year, she first won two gold medals at the Dutch U20 championships (400 m hurdles and 400 m indoor), and added her first senior title at the national indoor competition (400 m). In June, Bol won the 400 m hurdles race at the meet in Geneva, qualifying for the Doha World Championships. In July, she confirmed herself as the continent's best under-20 runner in her, since that year, signature event of the 400 m hurdles, with a gold medal at the European U20 Championships. At the World Championships, Bol reached the semi-finals with new personal best and national U20 record of 55.32 s in the heats, becoming the second-fastest under-20 European woman in history.[5][6] In the 4x400 m relay, she helped her Dutch team place seventh.

In July 2020, Bol twice broke the 1998's national senior record of 54.62 seconds in the 400 m hurdles at the Dutch training centre Papendal near Arnhem, where she currently lives.[7][1] First she took, in rain, almost a second off her PB with a time of 54.47 s, which could not be ratified as only one other athlete competed. Two weeks later, she ran 53.79 – the fourth-fastest under-23 European time in history.[8]

The 21-year-old improved her PBs, setting 10 individual national records throughout 2021.[4] Bol won the 400 metres at the European Indoor Championships with her fifth Dutch record of the year in this indoor event; she took her second gold medal anchoring women's 4×400 m relay team to a championship record time of 3:27.15.[9]

She lowered her own national record in the 400 m hurdles, winning at the Diamond League meetings, beginning with a time of 53.44 s on 10 June in Florence. On 1 July in Oslo, she improved in 53.33 s to take almost a second off with a Diamond League record time of 52.37 s on 4 July in Stockholm, where she beat Shamier Little by 0.02 s. The race was quick, as Bol became the fourth fastest woman of all time with the sixth-fastest result ever, missing the European record by just 0.03 s.[10][11] On 6 July, she won the event at the Continental Tour meet in Székesfehérvár with a time of 52.81 s, edging out Little, who timed 52.85 s again. Having won the meet in Gateshead, England on 13 July, she extended her unbeaten streak in the event to 6 races in the 2021 season and 12 straight races in total. It was her third consecutive victory over the US rival, but this time Bol dominated, running away by about 10 metres.[12]

At the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July and August 2021, Bol ran six 400m races with hurdles or flat, including three sub-50 second relay legs. She bettered an individual Dutch record, in this case her own PB at 400m hurdles, for the 11th time that year to break a European record and an Olympic record, finishing third in a time of 52.03 seconds. She lost only to her main rivals in the world, the winner Sydney McLaughlin (51.46 – world record) and the runner-up Dalilah Muhammad (51.58), who both improved on a previous world record of the former. Bol broke the 2003 Yuliya Pechonkina's European mark of 52.34 s (world record until 2019) and the 2008 Melaine Walker's Olympic record of 52.64 s, becoming the third fastest woman of all time at the event with the fourth fastest result ever.[10] Her result would have been also a world record about a month earlier, before 27 June, when McLaughlin clocked 51.90 s at the 2021 US Olympic trials. Before Bol's individual final on 4 August, she helped mixed 4x400m relay team set national record in the final with her 49.74 s split, and later she anchored women's 4x400 relay to consecutive Dutch records in the heat and in the final, clocking splits of 49.14 s and 48.97 s respectively.[13]

After the Games, in August and September, she competed at the Diamond League meetings winning her signature event at the Lausanne Athletissima and at the Zürich Weltklasse final, with meet records of 53.05 s and 52.80 s respectively. In Lausanne, she finished clear ahead of Shamier Little and Dalilah Muhammad, while in Zürich, Bol held off Little again. Having skipped USA's Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon and ran 400m at the Meeting de Paris, Bol finished her Diamond League hurdles season unbeaten.[14][15]

• Diamond League champion (400 m hurdles): 2021[16]
  • 2020 (2) (400 m h): Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan (54.68), Rome Golden Gala (53.90)
  • 2021 (6) (400 m h): Rome Golden Gala in Florence (53.44 NR), Oslo Bislett Games (53.33 NR), Stockholm Bauhaus-Galan (52.37 MR DLR NR), Gateshead British Grand Prix (53.24), Lausanne Athletissima (53.05 MR), Zürich Weltklasse (52.80 MR)
• Continental Tour
  • 2020 [2]; (1) (400 m h): Székesfehérvár Memorial (54.67); (1) (300 m h): Ostrava Golden Spike (38.55 MR)
  • 2021 (3) (400 m h): Hengelo FBK Games (54.33 MR), Székesfehérvár Memorial (52.81 MR), Bellinzona Galà dei Castelli (54.01 MR)

• Dutch Indoor Championships
  • 400 metres indoor (2): 2019, 2021