One of the modern icons of athletics, Femke Broeders-Bol combines an understated, authentic personality with an uncompromising competitive streak.
Known then as Femke Bol, the Dutch star arrived at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships with an audacious ambition: to complete the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay treble. It was a challenge few would even contemplate.
By conquering all three, she became one of the faces of European athletics – a brilliant individual performer whose extraordinary relay running and unwavering commitment to her team made her one of the championship's defining stars.
In the countdown to Birmingham 2026 (10–16 August), we look back at 26 unforgettable moments in European Athletics Championships history – including Bol's unprecedented one-lap treble in Munich.
The background
As a volunteer scanning tickets and accreditation at the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships, Bol was one of many young Dutch athletes inspired by Europe's biggest stars, dreaming that one day she might compete on the same stage.
Three years later, she took her first major step by winning 400m hurdles gold at the Borås 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships.
But age-group success offers no guarantees at senior level. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which effectively brought elite athletics to a standstill from spring 2020, leaving uncertainty over which athletes would emerge strongest when international competition resumed.
Bol was one of them.
She announced herself with 400m and 4x400m relay gold at the Toruń 2021 European Indoor Championships before claiming Olympic bronze in the 400m hurdles in Tokyo, behind Sydney McLaughlin, who would become her defining rival.
Another leap forward followed in 2022. Bol won 400m and 4x400m silver at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade before adding 400m hurdles and mixed relay silver at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene.
Despite that demanding schedule, she arrived in Munich ready to attempt one of the boldest programmes ever seen at a European Championships.
What happened?
The schedule dictated that Bol would begin with the 400m, where Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek and Dutch teammate Lieke Klaver appeared her biggest threats.
But once the race entered the home straight, Bol's smooth, seemingly effortless stride carried her clear as she powered to gold in 49.44.
Her specialist event, the 400m hurdles, followed next. Many athletes would have conserved energy. Bol never has.
Instead, she dominated the field to win by almost 10 metres in a championship record of 52.67.
The final challenge came in the 4x400m relay. Rested for the heats, Bol returned to anchor the Dutch quartet after strong opening legs from Eveline Saalberg, Klaver and Lisanne de Witte.
Receiving the baton in third place, she patiently tracked Belgium's Camille Laus and Great Britain's Nicole Yeargin before sweeping past both entering the home straight and surging away to secure another Dutch gold.
The achievement placed Bol in rare company as only the fifth athlete to win three gold medals at a single European Athletics Championships.
Fittingly, she followed in the footsteps of Dutch legend Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won the 100m, 200m and 80m hurdles in Brussels in 1950. The other athletes to complete a European Championships golden hat-trick are Poland's Irena Szewińska (Budapest 1966), France's Christophe Lemaitre (Barcelona 2010) and Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith (Berlin 2018).
The aftermath
Munich proved not to be the peak of Bol's career but the launchpad for even greater success.
In 2023 she finally claimed global outdoor gold, winning the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest before producing another unforgettable anchor leg to secure women's 4x400m relay gold for the Netherlands.
Her dramatic mixed relay fall on the opening night only made her remarkable response later in the championships more compelling.
The following winter she rewrote the record books, breaking the world indoor 400m record twice in the space of two weeks before lowering it to 49.17 to win world indoor gold in Glasgow.
Paris 2024 brought another unforgettable Olympic chapter. Bol captured mixed 4x400m relay gold with a stunning final leg and added women's 4x400m silver, alongside a second successive Olympic bronze medal in the 400m hurdles.
Her dominance in Europe has continued with further continental titles and relay triumphs, while her versatility has become one of the defining features of modern athletics.
Now, after establishing herself as one of the greatest 400m hurdlers in history, Broeders-Bol (newly wed to Belgian vauler Ben Broeders) has embarked on perhaps the boldest challenge of her career: stepping up to the 800m.
It is a move few anticipated, but one entirely consistent with an athlete who has never been afraid to pursue the extraordinary.