At the mixed 4x400m hurdling competition at the Paris Olympics, Femke Bol terrifically anchored the Netherlands team to victory. Before the race, everyone had USA marked as their favorite to take home the coveted gold medal. It came as a shock when Femke Bol ran the last lap in an incredible 47.93 seconds, overtaking Belgium, Britain, and the USA. The Dutch finished the race in 3:07.43sec while the US could only manage 3:07.74, settling for the silver.

It came as a tremendous surprise to spectators, with most not expecting the Netherlands to win. However, in a humorous turn of events, Femke Bol recently revealed that she wasn’t expecting it herself either. She felt confused for a while when she overtook the USA’s athlete, Kaylyn Brown. But in the end, it was her strength which helped her combat them. It was all revealed in a recent interview.

Femke Bol opens up about her incredible last lap at the 4x400m relay

Recently, in an interview, Femke Bol talked about how she anchored the Netherlands team to victory. She said, “Oh I think it was a crazy race. When you’re fourth leg, you have to wait quite a while. You see your teammates giving it their all and then at one point, you can also finally run. I think when I got the baton, I saw we were really in a good position to get a medal and that was the main goal to get a medal.”

She remarked how the team was in quite a good position to get their hands on a medal. “And then with the last hundred, I felt very strong. I felt I had already overtaken Belgium, and I still felt very strong.” But the real game began when she realized that she was in a strong position to overtake the USA and persevere through.

She said, ” And the crowd went absolutely crazy and I think with 40 meters to go, I was getting closer to USA and we had no clue what was happening and how this was happening. So, I think I was almost a bit confused. But I saw my teammates also ready at the finish line. So it really gave me a boost to keep going and, to be honest, the first few minutes I think we had no clue what just happened, but it was a really nice feeling.”

Femke Bol would go on to win three medals in total in Paris with one gold, one silver, and one bronze. She has now continued this impressive form at the Lausanne Diamond League.

Bol finds 400m hurdle redemption at the Diamond League

Despite winning the gold at the relay, Femke Bol didn’t enjoy the strongest 400m hurdle outing in Paris. It was expected to be a two-horse race between her and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. However, not only did she lose the gold to the American athlete, Anna Cockrell managed to bag the silver, making Bol settle for the bronze.

But as she returned to the 400m in the Diamond League, she ended up putting on a great performance winning the race in 52.25 seconds setting the meet record for the third time. Rushell Clayton, who finished second, was more than a second behind her. After the race, she talked about her fitness. She said, ” I’m still in great shape, with no injuries or sickness, which is really positive. The race today was super with a MR(meet record).” It was a promising performance for her fans, who would be delighted to see her return to her winning ways. What do you think of Bol’s run? Let us know in the comments below.