Femke Bol Has raced 24 times in 2023, and it is building the sport, by Cathal Dennehy

Femke Bol is a joy for our sport with 24 races in 2023, and Cathal Dennehy, who has been writing for us all championships! 

Femke Bol is, quite clearly, an athlete who likes racing. Here, there, and everywhere, the Dutch 23-year-old will get on the line, taking on whoever shows up.

Maybe it’s a 200m, where she knows her raw speed will not allow her to run with the world’s best. Doesn’t matter; she’ll still get on the line, and take her beating, knowing that it’s all done with a means to an end.

Maybe it’s an indoor 400, where she is the fastest athlete in history, which is all the more impressive given it’s not her specialist event.

Maybe it’s in relays. Whether it’s a women’s 4x400m or a mixed 4x400m, whether it comes at the start of the championship program or at the end, it doesn’t seem to matter. Bol will be there, taking the baton, willing to risk sacrificing a tiny percentage of her individual goals for the collective good of her nation.

Or maybe it’s the 400m hurdles, the event at which Bol is the second quickest athlete in history, the Olympic silver medallist, and now, at long last, the world champion.

Bol and her coach, Laurent Meuwly, quite clearly believe that racing regularly is not mutually exclusive from reaching the ultimate peak when it matters most, and her performances show as much. In Budapest on Thursday night, Bol stormed to victory in the women’s 400m hurdles final in 51.70, coming home a whopping 1.1 seconds clear of runner-up Shamier Little.

It was her 24th race of the year.

Last year, Bol ran 29 races. In 2021, she ran 33 races. Contrast that with her chief rival, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The US star raced six times this year, though it was obviously a season that ended early due to a knee injury. But while healthy last year, she raced just 10 times, and only three of those were outside the US or World Championships. Take out last year’s World Championships in Oregon and the Dutch outdoor nationals, and Bol raced 22 times.

They are similar athletes, with vastly different approaches, and indeed coaches, who operate with distinctly different philosophies.

McLaughlin-Levrone is coached by Bobby Kersee, whose inclination is to keep his athletes wrapped in cotton wool…