Femke Bol is back to winning ways. The 24-year-old Dutch athlete broke her own record at the Athletissima, or the Lausanne leg of the IAAF Diamond League, to win the event for the fourth consecutive time and ensure her place in the Diamond League finals, which would be held around September in Brussels, Belgium.
An ecstatic Bol took to Instagram to express her joy on this occasion. She considers Lausanne Diamond League to be her lucky charm, and she didn't refrain from openly expressing it in her Instagram story either.
In her recent Instagram story, Femke Bol mentioned:
"4th time in a row in Lausanne [Overwhelmed Emoji]. The meet where they put my bib ready with golden pins, because they know it's my lucky charm."
Femke Bol won the 400m hurdles event with a new meet record of 52.25 seconds. Rushell Clayton and Janieve Russell of Jamaica stood second and third with timings of 53.32 and 54.48 seconds, respectively. This is Bol's fourth consecutive win at the Lausanne Diamond League. Apart from that, the Dutch athlete has won this event three consecutive times in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively.
Femke Bol's performances at the Paris Olympics
Femke Bol had a roller coaster of a ride at the Paris Olympics. She participated in the 400m hurdles, the women's 4x400m relay, and the mixed 4x400m relay event. The Dutch athlete surprised Team USA, who had just broken the world record in the mixed relay during the preliminaries, in pursuit of a historic gold medal in the mixed 4x400m relay event for the Netherlands.
Had she just run a bit faster, Femke Bol would have also shattered a day old world record of 3 minutes and 7.41 seconds. Yet, the timing of 3 minutes and 7.43 seconds turned out to be a new European record.
Femke Bol turned her attention to 400m hurdles, her favorite event. She had just registered a personal best of 50.95 seconds a few weeks before the Paris Olympics and was set to give Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning Olympic champion, a tough run for her money.
Although Bol was nearly guaranteed a silver medal, a late push from Anna Cockrell left her behind. With a time of 52.15 seconds, Bol had to settle for a bronze medal, marking her second consecutive Olympic bronze since Tokyo.
Femke Bol once again faced Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the finals of women's 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics. The former was running the anchor leg for her team, and the latter only the second leg for Team USA. The Dutch athlete ran to give the Netherlands a respectable silver medal, with a new European record of 3 minutes, 19.5 seconds.