The Netherlands won yet another major relay medal with Femke Bol anchoring the Dutch to mixed 4x400m silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Saturday (13).
Before the championships, there was speculation as to whether Bol would contest the mixed 4x400m or focus on the 400m hurdles and women’s 4x400m.
But the lure of taking part in the event where she had the crushing disappointment of falling to the track and out of the medals two years ago in Budapest 2023 and then the unbridled joy of Olympic gold in Paris last year, proved impossible to resist.
This time though, any possibility of gold was taken out of reach, with the USA building a 20 metre gap going into the final leg, a gap not even the brilliant Bol could realistically breach.
Packed battle
Instead she was in a tightly packed battle for silver with Poland, Belgium, Great Britain and South Africa as she was handed the baton. As expected, Bol eased her way clear and left the rest to fight out bronze.
In the closing straight it looked like Justyna Święty-Ersetic of Poland, also a member of the team who won the first ever Olympic mixed 4x400m title in Tokyo, had the edge. But Belgium’s Helena Ponette timed her run to perfection and edged past for bronze.
The USA won with 3:08.80. The Netherlands quartet of Eugen Omalla, Lieke Klaver, Jona Phijffers and Bol took silver. Bol made up some ground to finish in 3:09.96 and Belgium’s foursome of Dylan Borlée, Imke Vervaet, Alexander Doom and Ponette took bronze in 3:10.61, just 0.02 ahead of Poland.