2023 World Athletics Championships: An Outstanding Redemption from Femke Bol Leading the Dutch Mixed 4x400m Relay Team to Gold Medals

Close Up Photography of a White Line, Sourced From Pexels

The Netherlands ended the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest on a high with a gold medal for the 4x400m women’s relay race. Femke Bol made the comeback of the century after herself and the mixed 4x400m relay got a DNF (did not finish) just 8 days before when Femke Bol stumbled and fell at the last hurdle just 10 metres away from the finish line despite being first in line for that gold medal.

After their performance in the mixed relay nobody thought the Netherlands had it in them to rise from the ashes and win the gold medal. After Femke’s disastrous performance in the mixed relay, with the gold medal just several paces away, she fumbled all of the team’s hard work and efforts for the gold medal.

But this didn’t stop the women's relay team from clawing back the gold for the Netherlands, after beating Jamaica by just 16 milliseconds after fan favourite to win USA were disqualified in their heat on the 26th of August. Quanera Hayes was unable to pass the baton to Alexis Holmes in the dedicated exchange zone, leaving disappointment to the USA’s fans after they won 7 of the last 8 gold medals at the World Athletics Championships in the women's 4x400m relay. But they still managed to secure the gold in both the men’s and mixed 4x400m relay races this year at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Alexis Holmes for team USA came up on Femke’s shoulder and put her under pressure where she crumbled and costed the Dutch the gold. Despite her getting up and crossing the finish line 3rd, she was without the baton which had already passed the finish line whilst she was down meaning they technically didn’t finish.

“We get these medals together” Femke explained, not only was this a big win for her as an individual to redeem herself but also for the Dutch team who were in it together for the gold medal. They were all hungry for the gold after the Netherlands were disqualified in the 2022 World Athletics competition in Oregon after a dropped Baton. This only motivated the quartet more.

After Jamaica's flying start to the race with Candice Mcleod storming ahead, the Netherlands were still close behind at the first leg of the race with Eveline Saalberg securing them a spot at the front of the pack to set the tone and pace for the relay race.

Jamaica stayed consistent in the second and third leg of the race with Janieve Russel flying ahead of her competitors, but team GB’s Amber Anning and Ama Pipi were a force to be reckoned with keeping GB at a solid 2nd place throughout their legs of the race. Netherlands Lieke Klaver running tight to GB’s Anning putting Klaver’s 200m racing skills to the test, keeping a nice separation between the podium spots and the rest of the athletes.

The entirety of Jamaica’s team showed great effort and skill maintaining 1st throughout the race for that long of a duration. Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce really started the battle for the gold medal in the third leg, but the Dutch Cathelijin Peeters still inserted the Netherlands a place at the front of the pack.

With how close the top 3 had been in the last 3 legs of the race, it made for a chair clenching final 400m stint for the podium spots between Jamaica, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams started the final 400m by setting the distance between her and second place team GB’s Nicole Yeargin, who were in 

dangerous water with the Netherlands Femke Bol who quickly closed the distance between them and fought for both that silver medal and the redemption after the mixed relay just days before.

But Femke Bol, the World Champion for the women's 400m hurdles wasn’t content with the silver and continued to strive for the gold. She managed to apply the pressure to both Great Britain and Jamaica with just approximately 100 metres left of the race and rocketed past them, making the Netherlands women's relay team the World Champions in the women's 4x400m relay race. Stealing the gold medal from 10 times world gold medallist team USA.

In a post-match press conference, Femke Bol stated after her fall at the mixed 4x400m relay that “it was tough to get a bit confident” but after her last training session she decided that she just needed to “keep running you can keep your form well” which is exactly what she did.

After her superb comeback and the rapid rates, she was able to run at the number one question people were asking was would she run the flat next year, but she swiftly said “No”, “because I love my hurdles”.