The mixed 4x400m relay will make its debut at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships on Friday (7) night – and a Dutch team including Femke Bol are the probable favourites to become the inaugural champions.
Bol, the reigning European 400m and 400m hurdles champion, will only be defending the latter title individually but with characteristic team spirit, she will also contest the 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m in the Stadio Olimpico.
And if her commitment to those two events matches the drama it evoked at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest then spectators and television viewers will be royally entertained.
Bol was only a couple of steps away from securing gold in the mixed 4x400m when - under intense pressure from Alexis Holmes of the United States - she fell face down and lost the baton.
After recovering to win the 400m hurdles title, she played it again in the concluding women’s 4x400m, bringing the Netherlands home in first place after an astonishing final surge over the final 30 metres taking her past the last-leg runners for Great Britain and - a couple of steps away from the line - the United States.
The Dutch potential was underlined at last month’s World Relays in Nassau, where their quartet of Isayah Boers, Lieke Klaver, Isaya Klein Ikkink and Bol finished second in 3:11.45 behind the United States.
Ireland’s medal prospects were also made plain as their team of Cillin Greene, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley finished third in a national record of 3:11.53.
However these two countries will face a strong challenge from a British quartet that won world silver last year and arrives in Rome as top-ranked nation after running 3:11.06 and 3:11.19 last year. The line-up also includes reigning Olympic champions Poland and world bronze medallists as well as the hosts, Italy.
Bol will also be involved in the women’s 4x400m relay, where the Dutch team will defend its title as top-ranked nation following their 2023 times of 3:20.72 and 3:23.75.
Other medal contenders will be Belgium, Poland – who took second place behind the United States in Nassau thanks to Marika Popowicz-Drapala, Iga Baumgart-Witan, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and Natalia Kaczmarek – and Ireland.
In the men's 4x400m, reigning champions Great Britain will be in with a shot of retaining their title although their team has been weakened somewhat by the late withdrawal of two-time champion Matthew Hudson-Smith who has recently lowered his European record to 44.07.
The biggest challenge to the Brits should come from Belgium, the reigning world and European indoor 4x400m championships. Their relay pool includes world indoor champion Alexander Doom, Jonathan Sacoor and Dylan Borlee.
In the men's 4x100m, the home crowd will be hoping Italy can reproduce the magic which took them to the Olympic title in Tokyo 2020 while Germany, who tasted home success at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships, will face strong opposition from Great Britain who will be looking to atone from their dropped baton in the final two years ago.
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics