Femke Bol won the 400m hurdles at the London Diamond League in a new European record of 51.45 sec to move into second place in the all-time rankings in the event just weeks before the World Championships.
“This is amazing, I still can’t believe it. I feel really good at some points in the race, but I try not to think about the finish. I’ve wanted to run 51 sec for a long time, ever since Tokyo. I felt like I could do it and I still can’t believe it happened”, said a delighted Femke Bol after her extremely strong result. “I hope we have a great race at the World Cup. There is always room for improvement, but for the moment I will enjoy it”, commented the Dutch athlete and her upcoming participation in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which will be held from August 19 to 27.
Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who specialises in the 400m hurdles and 400m. She was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles, and holder of the current European record of 51.45 sec, making her the second-fastest woman of all-time and the first Dutch Olympic medalist at the event. Femke Bol is also the 2022 World Championships silver medalist and 2022 European champion. In the 400m, she is the 2022 World Indoor silver medalist, the 2022 European champion, a two-time European Indoor champion from 2021 and 2023, and the world indoor record holder with a time of 49.26 sec set on February 19, 2023 in Apeldoorn, beating the longest-standing at the time track world record. At all these events except the Tokyo Games, she also won medals in the 4x400m relays, either women’s or mixed.
