The 23-year-old star Dutch athlete Femke Bol’s final moment fall denied a gold medal for the Netherlands in the mixed 4 × 400m relay final event on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships 2023. She made a solid comeback with a comfortable gold medal in the women’s 400m hurdles final, which helped the country to win the first gold medal at the ongoing Championships in Budapest (Hungary).
World Athletics Championships 2023: Women’s 400 Metres Hurdles – Dutch star Femke Bol assured no mistake this time
It was the sixth day of the World Athletics Championships 2023 where Femke Bol completed the women’s 400m hurdles race in 51.70 seconds to secure the gold medal. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medallist became the first Dutch athlete to win a gold medal in the 400m hurdles (including both men's and women's events) at the World Athletics Championships history.
In the 2022 World Championships, Bol became the first Dutch to secure a medal in the 400m hurdles (including both men's and women's events) as she secured a silver medal.
World Athletics Championships 2023: Women’s 400 Metres Hurdles – USA and Jamaica had neck-to-neck battles for the podium finishes
It was the close battles between the silver and bronze medallists, Shamier Little (52.80s) and Rushell Clayton (52.81s). The American Little, who previously won a World Championships silver medal in the 2015 edition, produced her season-best performance to earn her second World Championships silver medal.
On the other hand, Jamaican Clayton closely missed out on a silver medal but clinched the bronze medal with her personal best performance. In the World Athletics Championships 2019, she won a bronze medal in the women’s 400m hurdles event.
World Athletics Championships 2023: Women’s 400 Metres Hurdles (Final Status)
Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
1 | Femke Bol | Netherlands | 51.70 |
2 | Shamier Little | United States | 52.80 (SB) |
3 | Rushell Clayton | Jamaica | 52.81 (PB) |
4 | Kemi Adekoya | Bahrain | 53.09 (AR) |
5 | Anna Cockrell | United States | 53.34 (PB) |
6 | Ayomide Folorunso | Italy | 54.19 |
7 | Janieve Russell | Jamaica | 54.28 |
8 | Andrenette Knight | Jamaica | 55.20 |
(NOTE: SB = Season Best; PB = Personal Best; AR = Area Record [Continental Record])
What did Femke Bol say?
With the gold medal, Femke Bol is in relief from her mistake on the opening day of the ongoing Championships. It also gave her a lesson that motivated her to secure the latest gold medal strongly.
Bol said, "Everyone thought, of course on paper she's by far the winner, she's gonna win it. But I think the mixed [relay] showed that it's not always like this because I think a lot of people thought that when I got the stick [baton] we would have gold easily and we didn't get it. So I knew I needed to be strong, I needed to execute my race."
