Femke Bol has impressed once again as she won the Women’s 4x400m Relay Gold, after winning the women’s 400m hurdle gold on Thursday.
Recall that, on the opening night of these World Championships, Bol fell face-down a couple of meters short of securing Dutch victory in the mixed 4x400m.
This time, she took over the baton on the last leg a couple of meters behind the Jamaican and British last-leg runners, Stacey Ann Williams and Nicole Yeargin, and by the back straight the gap between her and the leader was about 10 meters.
The Jamaicans, who had qualified fastest in 3:22.74, the fastest time recorded this season were edging close to victory.
They had Candice McLeod, seventh in the individual 400m final, and Janieve Russell, seventh in the 400m hurdles final, both of whom won Olympic 4x400m bronze in Tokyo.
But Bol took a superb charge and edged passed Yeargin and Williams to bring the baton home in 3:20.72.
Jamaica took silver in 3:20.88, with Britain taking bronze in 3:21.04.
Speaking about her performance, Femke said:
“The first three legs went so well, I felt like I had to finish as strongly as I could. I wanted to stay patient, but in the last meters I said ‘No, we have to take it’.”
“It was one of my most important runs ever, but it is the first time we became world champions so it applies for all of us. Every tenth and hundredth of a second was needed. We had good exchanges and still barely won it.”
Canada, anchored by Grace Konrad, finished fourth in 3:22:42 ahead of Belgium in 3:22.84.
