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"Just the pace was too fast for her profile" - Femke Bol's coach explains Dutch athlete's loss to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at Paris Olympics 2024
Femke Bol received a heartfelt commendation from her coach Laurent Meuwly after finishing with a bronze medal in a fast-paced women's 400m hurdles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She trailed the USA's Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Anna Cockrell with a time of 52.15s after topping her respective heat and semifinal rounds.
Bol won the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay golds at the 2023 World Athletics Championships to enter the Olympic year as one of the top seeds in both events. In 2024, she set the world record in the 400m short track and the European record in the 400m hurdles, where her time of 50.95s at the Résisprint International made her the second woman in history to run sub-51s behind McLaughlin-Levrone.
At the Paris Olympics, Bol's stunning anchor leg performance (47.93s) in the mixed 4x400m relay helped bring the gold to the Dutch team. But her 400m hurdles defeat for the first time against McLaughlin-Levrone since the 2022 Worlds shifted her to the bronze position.
Femke Bol's coach Meuwly, who has trained her since 2019 at the Dutch National Sports Centre Papendal, commended her for giving her all in the race. He wrote on X:
"Femke tried everything to run faster than ever to stand a chance to win gold."
Meuwly clarified that the pace was too fast for Bol when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was 23.84s at 200m and Bol was only 24.04s.
"Just the pace was too fast for her profile (24.04 at 200m / Sydney 23.84!). Therefore she didn’t run relaxed and economical enough. So, she went out of fuel on the last 120m. But Sydney was just too strong tonight and by risking everything, Femke exposed herself and lost silver," he added.
Bol expressed disappointment over her performance after the race.
Femke Bol was disappointed in her race at the Paris Olympics
In a post-race interview, Femke Bol shared that her women's 400m hurdles race at the 2024 Paris Olympics went 'slower and slower.'
"This was a really, really bad race. I really got a lot of lactic (buildup in muscles due to overexertion and inadequate oxygen) and I really don't know why. But this is just really, I could not move. I could not get my strides right in the end and it was slow, slow and slower," Femke Bol said.
Despite the setback, Bol said she is trying to see the brighter side of her journey and celebrate her mixed 4x400m team relay gold medal.
"Yeah, we are already Olympic Champions. I will try my best there again. I cannot complain too much," she added.
The 24-year-old will next take to the track for the women's 4x400m team relay slated for August 10, 2024 at Stade de France in the host nation's capital.
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