Bol holds theworld record in the 400 metres short track[b] with a time of 49.17 seconds set on 2 March 2024; theEuropean record in the 400 metres hurdles with a time of 50.95 seconds set on 14 July 2024, making her thesecond-fastest woman of all time in the event; the European record in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay with a time of 3:07.43 minutes set on 3 August 2024; and fourDutch records in individual events and relays. She also hasworld-best performances in the300 metres hurdles and500 metres short track.
She is a four-time medalist (one gold) at theOlympic Games, an eight-time medalist (four gold) at the World Championships (outdoor andindoor), a silver medalist at theWorld Relays, four-time champion in theDiamond League, a twelve-time medalist (eleven gold) at the European Championships (outdoor andindoor), a gold medalist at theEuropean Games, and a ten-time medalist (five gold) at the Dutch Championships (outdoor andindoor).
Femke Bol was born on 23 February 2000 inAmersfoort, Netherlands.[10][11] She has an older brother.[12] As a child, Bol practisedjudo for a year after she had broken her arm twice and her doctor had recommended the sport to help her learn how to fall.[13]
Around 2008, she started practising athletics at a local club, following her brother who was already a member there.[12][14] In an interview, Bol said about the sport: "It was always a way to clear your mind and just have fun and not think too much about other things. That's still what I like so much about it."[15] In 2014, she transferred to another local club, AV Altis, where her coach discovered her talent forlonger sprints.[16] She worked as a volunteer scanning tickets during the2016 European Championships inAmsterdam.[17]
Bol focused on the400 metres distance in 2015, at age 15, and started winning Dutch age-group competitions.[5] She won five nationalyouth titles in the 400 m (outdoor and indoor) between 2015 and 2017, and fourjunior titles in 2018 and 2019 (400 m outdoor, indoor, andhurdles).[10] In 2016, she started training with coachBram Peters at the athletics track of Ciko'66 inArnhem, where her parents drove her almost daily.[5]
At the international competitions, she progressed steadily. Competing against athletes up to two years her senior, Bol did not advance from the 400 m heats at the2015 European Youth Olympic Festival inTbilisi, Georgia. Two years later, the 17-year-old participated in theEuropean Under-20 Championships held inGrosseto, Italy and reached the semi-finals of the event.[10]
In 2019, her last year as a junior competitor, she claimed her first national title (indoor 400 m) in asenior competition.[10] In June, in the third hurdles race of her life, Bol broke Dutch U20/U23 records and achieved World Championship qualifying standard when winning a meet inGeneva with a time of 55.94 s.[24][25] In July, she won a gold medal in the 400 m hurdles at theEuropean U20 Championships inBorås, Sweden.[10] In September, she ran her first professional race at theGalà dei Castelli inBellinzona, Switzerland.[3] In October, at theDoha World Championships in Qatar, the 19-year-old reached the semi-finals with a new personal best of 55.32 s in the heats of the400 m hurdles, becoming the second-fastest European U20 woman in history.[26][27] She also helped her national women's teamplace seventh in the4 × 400 m relay.[10]
Since November 2019, she has been training at the DutchNational Sports Centre Papendal near Arnhem, coached by Switzerland'sLaurent Meuwly and her previous coach Bram Peters as assistant coach.[5]
Bol set her first senior Dutch record on 18 July 2020 inPapendal.
Bol was forced to train on gravel paths in the woods and on grass fields whenCOVID-19 quarantine measures were first enacted in March 2020. Despite this, she raced in Papendal in July and broke by almost a second the national 400 m hurdles record of 54.62 s set byEster Goossens in 1998.[28] First, running in the rain, she took almost a second off her 2019 best with a time of 54.47 s, which could not be ratified as only one other athlete competed. Two weeks later, she achieved 53.79 s, the fourth-fastest European under-23 time in history.[29]
During this pandemic season, the Dutchwoman won all her following races over the barriers: twoDiamond League events staged in2020 as one-off exhibition competitions, and threeContinental Tour events. First she stayed ahead of all her competitors inSzékesfehérvár, Hungary on 19 August, to repeat this achievement four days later at theStockholm Bauhaus-galan winning her first Diamond race.[10] In September, she won inOstrava (300 m hurdles),Bellinzona, andRome. She reduced her open 400 metres pre-2020 best by 1.85 s down to 51.13 s.[10]
Bol started her unbeaten indoor campaign on 30 January, beating her previous best in the 400 metres by more than 1.5 s to break a Dutch record in a time of 50.96 s at theVienna Indoor Track & Field meet in Austria. The previous record was set a few minutes earlier byLieke Klaver, who in turn brokeEster Goossens' mark which had stood at 51.82 s since 1998.[30] Bol then won all her following seven races at the distance in four events, improving in every final. Competing in theWorld Indoor Tour, she powered to meet records inMetz (50.81 s) andToruń (50.66 s), then clocked 50.64 s at theDutch Indoor Championships, and finally lowered her record to 50.63 s when winning at theEuropean Indoor Championships inToruń, Poland.[31][32] She took there her second gold medal anchoring the women's 4 × 400 m relay to achampionship record.[33][34] Her individual mark made her the fastest European woman since 2009.[35]
Bol during the 400 metres at the2021 European Team Championships, where she won and set one of her eleven Dutch records from 2021.
The 21-year-old started the 2021 outdoor season by competing at theWorld Relays to set a 400 m national record of 50.56 s on 29 May at the IFAM meeting inOordegem. She then started improving her own Dutch hurdling record when winning Diamond League meetings, beginning with a time of 53.44 s on 10 June inFlorence. At the time it was also European U23 record, breaking a 37-year-old mark.[36] On 19 June, she returned to the 400 m flat event during theEuropean Team Championships in Romania and bettered her record with a 50.37 s performance.[37] On 1 July inOslo, she lowered her hurdles record in a time of 53.33 s. She then took almost a second off with a Diamond League record of 52.37 s on 4 July inStockholm, where she beatShamier Little by 0.02 s. This race was only the second in history, after the2017 USATF Championships, in which three women recorded times below 53 seconds as third-placedAnna Ryzhykova finished in 52.96 s.[38] Bol, meanwhile, became the fourth fastest woman of all time with the sixth-fastest result ever, missing the European record by just 0.03 s.[39][40] On 6 July, she won the event at the Continental Tour meet inSzékesfehérvár with a time of 52.81 s, edging out Little in 52.85 s again.[41] Having won the Diamond race inGateshead, England on 13 July, she extended her unbeaten streak in her specialist event to 12 races in total. It was her third consecutive victory over Little, but this time Bol dominated, running away by about 10 metres.[42]
At the delayed2020 Tokyo Olympics in July and August 2021, Bol ran six 400 m races with hurdles and flat, including three under 50 seconds relay legs. In the 400 m hurdles final, Bol finished third afterSydney McLaughlin (51.46 s – world record) andDalilah Muhammad (51.58 s – inside previous world record).[43] With her time of 52.03 s, she broke the European record and became the third-fastest woman of all time at the event with the fourth-fastest result ever.[43][39][44] It was the first ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands at the event.[45] Before Bol's individual final on 4 August, she helped themixed 4 × 400 m relay team set a national record in the final with her 49.74 s split, and later she anchored thewomen's 4 × 400 m relay to consecutive Dutch records in the heat and in the final, clocking splits of 49.14 s and 48.97 s respectively.[46] On 8 August, she reached a 400 metres hurdles ranking of No. 1 in theWorld Athletics Rankings for the first time.[47]
After the Games, in August and September, she continued her Diamond League dominance over the barriers, winning inLausanne and theZürich final with meet records of 53.05 s and 52.80 s respectively to claim her first Diamond trophy.[48][49] At the former, she finished clear ahead of Shamier Little and Dalilah Muhammad, while in Zürich Bol held off Little again.[50][51] Having skipped theUSA's event inEugene and ran 400 m flat inParis (50.59 s, 4th),[10] she remained unbeaten in the Diamond race with six wins out of six races. While still in Switzerland, on 14 September, she ended her breakthrough season with another meet record inBellinzona, staying unbeaten in 11 of her 12 hurdles races in 2021.[52]
Bol opened her indoor season returning to Metz, France, where she bested her previous meeting record in the 400 m (50.72 s), and also won her200 metres heat with a new personal best (23.37 s). Then she returned to Toruń, Poland, to beat her local meet record again (50.64 s). On 27 February, at the Dutch Indoor Championships, she improved her own national record with a 50.30 s clocking which was also faster than her outdoor best, and putting her 12th on the world indoor all-time list.[64][65] At theWorld Indoor Championships inBelgrade about three weeks later, Bol won the silver medal, after she fell at the finish line during the semi-finals, in a time of50.57 s behind Miller-Uibo who ran 50.31 s.[66] Bol also anchored the Dutch women's 4 × 400 m relay tosilver thanks to her closing surge from fourth into second, with the fastest split of the race of 50.26 s.[67][68]
The 22-year-old started her outdoor season on 31 May at theGolden Spike meeting inOstrava, where she ran aworld best over the 300 m hurdles. She clocked a time of 36.86 s, which was 1.3 s faster than the previous best set byZuzana Hejnová in 2013.[69] She continued withDiamond League wins in Rome, Oslo, and Stockholm, breaking a meet record in Oslo before posting 52.27 s in Stockholm to improve her own Diamond League record with 0.10 s which she set the previous year.[70][71][72]
At theWorld Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, Bol first ran the final leg of themixed 4 × 400 m relay. After taking the baton a distant third, she anchored the Dutch team to a silver and a national record thanks to her split of 48.95 s, the second-fastest female split of the entire race.[73] In the400 m hurdles, she equalled her season's best (52.27 s) to finish behind McLaughlin (who lowered her world record to 50.68 s) and ahead of Muhammad in third (53.13 s).[74] The Dutch women's 4 × 400 m squad lost the baton in the heats and was disqualified despite a qualifying position. After the championships in August, she went for the first time under 50 seconds in the 400 m flat and set a national and meet record with a time of 49.75 s at theSilesia Diamond League.[75]
The same month, she completed the gold hat-trick at theEuropean Championships in Munich, becoming the first female sprinter to complete a 400 m double at a major championships as she won one-lap events bothwith andwithout hurdles. Her time for the open 400 m of 49.44 s was the fastest at a Europeans sinceStuttgart 1986 and a new national record, while over the barriers Bol set a championship record.[76][77] She rounded off her Munich campaign by producing a 48.52 sanchor leg to land the Netherlands gold and a national record in the 4 × 400 m relay, moving from third to first around the final bend; their result was also the fastest at a Europeans since 1986.[78] Bol became only the second Dutch athlete afterFanny Blankers-Koen in 1950 to win three gold medals at the event.[79]
In her return to the Diamond League, Bol set another meet record over the barriers in Lausanne, and then concluded her third senior season with a victory at the Zürich final, successfully defending her Diamond League title.[80] She achieved six marks under 53 seconds that year, staying unbeaten in 11 out of her 12 hurdles races, posted an individual win-loss record of 13–4, and was crownedEuropean Female Athlete of the Year.[10][81][82]
2023: World indoor 400 m record and double world champion
On 19 February 2023, Bol set a world indoor 400 m record, breaking the longest-standing track world record.
On 4 February, Bol improved by nearly 0.7 s the indoorworld best performance in the less frequently run distance of500 metres with 1:05.63 min, also faster than the outdoor record (1:05.9 min), at theNew Balance Indoor Grand Prix inBoston, USA.[83] Competing again in Metz, France, she set new Dutch indoor records in both the 200 m and 400 m. Bol clocked a lifetime best in the former (22.87 s), and was the fourth woman in history to go under 50 seconds with 49.96 s in the latter.[84] She next triumphed with a meet record inLiévin (50.20 s).[85]
On 19 February at theDutch Indoor Championships inApeldoorn, she sliced 0.7 s off her best with a landmark 49.26 s, breaking the longest-standing world record in atrack race. This was at the time the 49.59 s indoor 400 m record, set byJarmila Kratochvílová back in1982.[86][87] After setting an outright lifetime best, Bol said, "this was almost a perfect race".[88]
Bol capped her 2023 indoor campaign with a 49.85 s run atIstanbul 2023. She went under 50 seconds a record three times that year.
She capped her record-breaking indoor campaign bysuccessfully defending her European 400 m title atIstanbul 2023 with the third mark under 50 seconds in the that season (49.85 s), a global record. She added her seventh European title anchoring the Netherlands to a4 × 400 m relay victory with a new Dutch and championship record, making them the third-fastest national women's team in history.[89][90]
Training for the 2023 outdoor season, Bol practiced a different stride pattern for the 400 m hurdles in an effort to become faster. Previously, she took fifteen steps between the hurdles throughout the race, which meant she could jump over each hurdle with the same leg leading. Now, she tried out fourteen steps between the first few hurdles, which made her alternate between her legs for the jump, only to change it to fifteen steps for the last hurdles.[91] Bol tried this new setup in competition for the first time inOordegem, Belgium on 27 May, where she ran sixteen steps after hurdle seven instead of fifteen and nonetheless set a world lead of 53.12 s.[92] Bol continued to win threeDiamond League races over hurdles inRome,Oslo, andLausanne, setting meet records in all three of them.[93][94][95]
On 23 July, Bol made her first ever appearance at theLondon Diamond League. After leading from the first barrier, Bol continued to widen her lead throughout the entire race. At the finish line, she stopped the clock at a time of 51.45 s, which was a 0.58 s improvement of her personal best in the 400 hurdles.[96] With her performance in London, Bol became the third woman in history to run the 400 metres hurdles under 52 seconds. Her time of 51.45 s was the third-fastest time ever and made her the second-fastest woman of all time, as only world record holderMcLaughlin-Levrone had run faster. This time also further lowered her own European and Diamond League records.[97] On 25 July, she reached a women's overall ranking of No. 2 in the World Athletics Rankings for the first time, with onlyFaith Kipyegon ranking higher.[98]
After the world championships, Bol won her 400 metres hurdles races at theGalà dei Castelli in Bellinzona,Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, andPrefontaine Classic in Eugene,[10] setting meeting records on all three occasions and becoming the2023 Diamond League champion in 51.98 s, her third time under 52 seconds of the season, on 17 September.[10][102] In 2023, Bol won all of her twenty individual 400 m flat and hurdles races[10] and became European Athlete of the Year for a second time.[103]
2024: Two world records, double world indoor champion, and triple Olympic medalist
On 3 February, Bol started her 2024 indoor season in Metz, where she won the 400 metres short track[b] with a meeting record of 49.69 s.[104] Here she also finished first in the 200 metres short track in 22.64 s, setting both a Dutch indoor record and a meeting record.[105][106] On 10 February, she won the 400 metres short track inLiévin in 49.63 s, another meeting record and the 4th-best result of all time.[107][108] At the2024 Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships in Apeldoorn on 18 February, she improved her own world record in the 400 metres short track with 0.02 s to 49.24 s,[109] after running 50.55 s in the heats a day earlier.[110]
On 28 April, Bol opened her 2024 outdoor season inWillemstad, Curaçao, where she competed in two distances at the Curaçao SprintFest.[117] She ran the100 metres in 11.47 s finishing in fifth place and the150 metres in 17.10 s finishing third, which were both personal bests.[117] On 4–5 May, she competed in the2024 World Relays inNassau, Bahamas.[118] Bol ran the anchor leg in the heat of themixed 4 × 400 m relay withIsayah Boers, Klaver, andIsaya Klein Ikkink, finishing in a championship record of 3:12.16 min and qualifying the Dutch mixed relay team for the2024 Paris Olympics.[118] In the final, she anchored the mixed team to a silver medal in 3:11.45 min, where the United States won in 3:10.73 min.[119] On 2 June, Bol ran her first 400 m hurdles race of the season at theBauhaus-galan in Stockholm, Sweden, which she won in 53.07 s.[120]
Bol competed in three events at the2024 European Championships inRome, Italy. On 7 June, she won a bronze medal in themixed 4 × 400 m relay, when she anchored the Dutch team withLiemarvin Bonevacia, Klaver, and Klein Ikkink finishing in 3:10.73 min after the Irish and Italian teams.[121] Bol had a split time of 49.21 s, which made her the fastest female competitor in this mixed relay final.[122] On 11 June, she successfully defended her European title in the400 m hurdles,[123] winning in a championship record of 52.49 s,[123] after running 54.16 s in the semifinals a day earlier.[10] She received a Golden Crown for her final hurdles performance of 1253 points, because this was the highest World Athletics score in the women's sprints and hurdles category at the championships.[124][125] On 12 June, Bol anchored the Dutchwomen's 4 × 400 m relay team with Klaver, Peeters, and De Witte with a split time of 50.45 s to the first place in 3:22.39 min,[126][127] winning her second gold and third medal of the championships.[10]
On 29 and 30 June, Bol competed in the 200 m at the2024 Dutch Championships inHengelo, where she ran 23.14 s in her semi-final and an outdoor personal best of 22.80 s in the final, finishing in third place afterTasa Jiya and Klaver.[128][129] On 7 July, she won the 400 m in a meeting record of 50.02 s at theFanny Blankers-Koen Games also in Hengelo.[10]
At the2024 Paris Olympics, Bol competed and medalled in three events.[135][136] On 3 August, she anchored the Dutch team withEugene Omalla, Klaver, and Klein Ikkink in themixed 4 x 400 metres relay to win gold in a European record of 3:07.43 min.[137] The time was 0.02 s off the world record set by the team of the United States in the first round a day earlier.[137] Bol passedNaomi Van den Broeck of Belgium (fourth place),Amber Anning of Great Britain (bronze medal), andKaylyn Brown of the United States (silver medal)and had a split time of 48.00 s, making her the fastest female runner of the race.[137][138] In the400 metres hurdles, she ran 53.38 s in the first round on 4 August and 52.57 s in the semi-finals on 6 August.[139][140][141] On 8 August, she won a bronze medal in 52.15 s in the 400 m hurdles final, after McLaughlin-Levrone in a world record of 50.37 s andAnna Cockrell in a personal best of 51.87 s.[142] On 10 August, Bol anchored the Dutch women's team with Klaver, Peeters, and De Witte in the4 × 400 m relay to a silver medal in a national record of 3:19.50 min, 4.23 s after the team of the United States in gold position and 0.22 s before the bronze team of Great Britain.[143] On 11 August, triple medalists Bol andHarrie Lavreysen (track cycling) were theflag bearers for the Netherlands at theOlympic closing ceremony.[144] On 13 August, Bol became a knight of theOrder of Orange-Nassau as Olympic gold medalist.[145][146]
Bol won her next two 400 m hurdles races in the Diamond League, ensuring qualification for the season final in Brussels: on 22 August, she set a meeting record of 52.25 s at the2024 Athletissima inLausanne, Switzerland, and on 25 August, she set another meeting record of 52.13 s at the2024 Kamila Skolimowska Memorial inChorzów, Poland.[147][148][149] On 14 September, she won theDiamond League final in Brussels in 52.45 s, finishing more than a second before the rest of the field, which brought Bol the fourth Diamond League trophy of her career.[150][151]
In January, Bol announced that she was not going to compete in individual events during the 2025 indoor season, but only in relays.[152] She explained her decision on social media: "It gives me the opportunity to have some more time processing everything that has happened and prioritize more things outside of the sports that are important to me."[153]
In her career, Bol set threeworld records in the 400 metres short track and twoworld best performances in the 300 metres hurdles and 500 metres short track.[b]
^Best from outdoor 400-metres track (long track) only
^abcdOn 1 November 2023,World Athletics replaced the term 'indoor' with 'short track' for the indoor events that take place on 200-metres tracks.[9]
^abThis race was held in theStade de France that is located inSaint-Denis, France, but World Athletics lists Paris, France, as the location for this race.[10][163]
^Dutch team ran 3:27.40 min in the heats, where Bol also had a split time 52.1 s.[198]
^de Voogt, Sam (7 August 2024)."Waarom Femke Bol een van de beste hordeloopsters is".NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved31 August 2024.Bol is sinds een groeispurt in haar tienerjaren 1,84 meter lang. [Bol is 1.84 metres tall since a growth spurt in her teens.]
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