When the track and field athletics program gets underway at the Stade de France during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 this summer, one of the most eagerly awaited showdowns will be that between Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women's 400m hurdles – and potentially the 400m flat.
It's a face-off that has been bubbling since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where McLaughlin-Levrone won the 400m hurdles title in a world record time while Bol came third. McLaughlin-Levrone then announced her intentions in 2023 to compete over the flat, which has only upped the ante.
Because it's in that event that Dutchwoman Bol, herself a two-time world medallist in the hurdles event, has been making waves, especially indoors on a short track – although McLaughlin-Levrone has yet to commit to the flat for Paris, and Bol has not run the distance at either of the last two World Championships.
We take a look at how both Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone stack up against each other ahead of a big summer for both women.
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Femke Bol: Twice world record breaker over 400m indoors
For the past two years running, Bol has lowered the women's 400m world indoor record at the Dutch national indoor championships.
When she did so in 2023, she took more than three-tenths off what had been the longest-standing world indoor record, lowering it from 49.59 to 49.26 in Apeldoorn.
She repeated the feat earlier this month at the same venue, shaving another two one-hundredths of a second off to lower it to 49.24.
While she did not compete at the World Athletics Championships over the flat in 2022 or 2023, her indoor feats have had observers wondering what she might be able to produce on a full-sized track, especially if McLaughlin-Levrone as well as Olympic and world champions Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Marileidy Paulino were there to push her.
Additionally, Bol's stellar performances in the mixed and women's 4x400m relay for the Netherlands have shown she can hold her own against the best over the single lap.
With her season begun in style, Bol is targeting the 400m world indoor record for a third time, at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Also the reigning world champion – in McLaughlin-Levrone's absence – in the 400m hurdles at the 2023 World Championships, Bol's trajectory is only upwards.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: How much quicker can she go in both events?
McLaughlin-Levrone remains a relatively untested quantity over 400m, with her planned major championships debut over the event at the 2023 World Championships falling through due to injury.
She has only run the distance twice internationally, a 49.71 at a Diamond League meet and a 49.51 at a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold, both in June 2023. She did put in a 48.74 at the U.S. Championships, a time that was enough to rank her as the 10th fastest woman of all time, and she is a bona fide challenger to Miller-Uibo and Paulino even if her lack of international experience at the distance may be a drawback.
There are no such questions in the hurdles, where even if Bol is a clear second, no-one else comes close.
McLaughlin lowered the world 400m hurdles record four times in the space of just over a year from 2021 to 2022, including at the Olympic Games in 2021 and World Championships in 2022. Her 50.68 at those World Championships remains the only time anyone has ever run under 51 seconds.
Bol, meanwhile, sits second all-time in the 400m hurdles, recording two sub-52 times in 2023 to become just the third woman under that mark. While McLaughlin-Levrone certainly has the better 400m hurdles time, Bol's progression in the event has come on quickly and the reigning world champion will be looking forward to taking on her predecessor at the Olympic Games in Paris – a clash that will be closely watched by track and field fans worldwide.
