Femke Bol gains ground in her wild GOAT chase Premium

Femke Bol's relentless pursuit of greatness in the 400m hurdles and flat races against Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

After Femke Bol bettered her own world record to win the 400m in a dominant display of gun-to-tape running at last weekend’s World Athletics Indoor championships, she said, “Last year I ran a world record and now I’ve done it again. Isn’t it good enough yet?”

There is no doubt that Bol is an elite athlete — ordinarily, her world-beating achievements, in both the 400m flat and her favourite event, the 400m hurdles, are significantly better than “good enough”. It’s just that she happens to be chasing Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, widely regarded as the greatest 400m hurdler of all time, and so Bol never quite knows if she is “good enough”.

As Bol once said of her pursuit of McLaughlin-Levrone, “Of course, you want to be the best, but it’s cool to be able to race Sydney, the best ever, and try one day to beat that person — perhaps never. Perhaps I will be second on the world stage my whole career, but I’m training not to be.”

Just to be clear, Bol has already won several major gold medals. 

She is the reigning 400m hurdles world champion, winning easily in Budapest last year in McLaughlin-Levrone’s absence. At the same event, she also anchored the Netherlands team in the 4x400m relay for her second Worlds gold. 

Bol completed a stunning European double in 2022, winning the 400m flat before dominating the 400m hurdles. She also has three Diamond League crowns in the 400m hurdles.

But the 24-year-old has not beaten McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles, finishing behind the American at both the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2022 World Championships. While the Olympic bronze was an encouraging result for a 21-year-old Bol — both McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad were more advanced athletes at that stage — the 2022 Worlds silver was deflating. Bol beat her idol Muhammad (bronze), but was trounced by 1.59 seconds!