Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from the U.S. and Femke Bol from the Netherlands are set to compete against each other in the 400-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Olympics. This will be their third matchup as the top female hurdlers of their generation.
Their race on Thursday night is highly anticipated. McLaughlin-Levrone is the current Olympic champion and has repeatedly broken the world record. Bol is the reigning world champion and won a gold medal in the 4×400-meter mixed relay at the Paris Games.
McLaughlin-Levrone has won both previous meetings with Bol, first at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and then at the 2022 world championships.
“Iron sharpens iron,” McLaughlin-Levrone said Tuesday night at Stade de France after both women won their semifinal heats to qualify for the final. “It’s always fun racing the best, and I know we’re going to push each other.”
During the semifinals, there was no real competition between them. McLaughlin-Levrone eased off toward the end but still finished 1.7 seconds ahead of the second-place runner with a time of 52.13.
This time would have broken the world record of 52.16, previously held by another U.S. runner, Dalilah Muhammad, before McLaughlin-Levrone regularly lowered the mark.
She first set the record to 51.90 in 2021 and then improved it four more times to the current mark of 50.65, achieved at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.
McLaughlin-Levrone’s semifinal was first, and Bol was asked if she watched her competitor’s performance.
“Only on the screen, quickly. I mainly focus on my own race,” Bol said. “And to be fair, you can’t really get much out of (watching) semifinals anyway.”
Bol won her semifinal heat with a time of 52.57. “Hopefully, I’ll be … in the best form and shape of my life” for the final, Bol said. “We’ll see in two days’ time.”
