Femke Bol brought the Netherlands home first in the mixed 4x400m relay at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The team won gold in a European record of 3:07.43. She ran the anchor leg and caught the United States on the final straight.
A last-straight pass in the Paris rain
Eugene Omalla led off in 45.26, Lieke Klaver ran 49.26 and Isaya Klein Ikkink split 44.91. The United States, world record holders from the night before, held the lead from the first leg. Rain fell inside Stade de France as Bol took the baton.
US anchor Kaylyn Brown extended the lead to several metres with 200m to run and protected it into the final straight. Bol closed the gap step by step. She passed Brown within strides of the line, running her leg in 48.00.
Redemption for a Budapest fall
The Dutch finished just 0.02 seconds shy of the world record and 0.31 ahead of the United States. Great Britain took bronze in a national record of 3:08.01. A year earlier, Bol had fallen in the final five metres of the mixed relay at the Budapest World Championships.
"I channelled my anger from Budapest," Bol told reporters afterwards. "We just wanted a medal this time. Well, we got gold."
The title sat alongside her Olympic hurdles bronze from Tokyo and her world indoor 400m record. She would defend her 400m hurdles world title the next year, then turn her focus to the 800m.
