Paris. With a providential sprint in the final stretch, Femke Bol gave the Netherlands gold in the mixed 4×400-meter relay on Saturday, beating the United States and Great Britain
American Kaylyn Brown led the final lap of the Stade de France, but Bol overtook her in the last 30 metres to stop the clock at 3:07.43, just two hundredths of a second above the world record, broken on Friday in the qualifiers by the United States.
The time achieved by Bol, Eugene Omalla, Lieke Klaver and Isaya Klein Ikkink is also a European record.
The American mixed team recorded a time of 3:07.74 and the British team 3:08.01.
Poland, winners three years ago at Tokyo 2020, finished seventh with a time of 3:12.39.
The Paris 2024 final had a taste of revenge for the Dutch mixed team and for Bol in particular, who at the Budapest 2023 World Championships fell when he was in the lead, just a few metres from the finish line, and handed victory to the American team.
Bol explained after the race that the accident in 2023 was an incentive to push hard in the final meters.
In the last 100, “I was just thinking about moving forward and being angry in Budapest,” said the 24-year-old Dutchwoman.
Bol completed the final lap in 47.93 seconds – compared to Kaylyn Brown’s 49.14 – a time that surprised even her.
“I was hoping to run that fast at some point, but in the relay you never really focus on split times, but rather on being together as a team,” Bol added.
“I just went for it. This time we wanted a medal, we didn’t think it was going to be gold, just a medal. And well, we got gold and we are Olympic champions. It’s crazy, for a small country like ours.”
#Netherlands #wins #gold #mixed #4x400m #relay
– 2024-08-06 12:34:01
