At the 2024 Paris Olympics, two of the world’s greatest hurdlers met once again—Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol, rivals bound by brilliance and contrast. Sydney, calm and composed, unleashed a devastating final 150 m, smashing her world record with a 50.37s finish. Bol, fierce and determined, pushed hard but couldn’t match the surge, earning bronze in 52.15 s. Yet another victory for the world record holder, maintaining her undefeated streak and deepening her 4–0 all-time lead over Bol. Their next likely showdown is set for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, scheduled from September 13 to 21, 2025. Seeing Bol’s recent domination, she is being put up once again in competition against Sydney McLaughlin Levrone.
“She looks to me watching that Diamond League race, I was very impressed not only with her dominance that she’s always shown, you know what I mean, when she’s in races, but the fact of how she’s clearing the hurdles, especially in the second half of that 400. That last 200 is becoming very impressive to me, especially those last couple hurdles,” said Justin Gatlin on the recent episode of Ready Set Go that aired on July 20. The Olympian is using a new technique to run her races.
Instead of leading with her right leg throughout, Bol now intentionally switches to her stronger left leg mid-race. She starts the race using her weaker right-leg lead for the first five hurdles, then shifts to left-leg lead around hurdle six or seven, maintaining rhythm and momentum better in the middle phase of the race. Perhaps that is what pays off later in the race. Gatlin further explained in the podcast about what he noticed in the race, telling, “She’s not floating them (hurdles), she’s coming off of them, she’s stepping down, she’s motoring off and then she’s getting to the next hurdle or getting to the finish line very smoothly and doing it with a great time.”
What he means to say is that the Dutch hurdler is not taking too much time in the air when she jumps a hurdle. Instead, she lands and immediately explodes forward, snapping into her stride to smoothly power into the next hurdle or the finish line. The track legend also said that he would like to see her perform under pressure, citing that, “there’s going to be one maybe two individuals that would apply that pressure in those scenarios and situations.” And one of them is going to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Paris 2024 Olympics – Athletics – Women’s 400m Hurdles Semi-Final – Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France – August 06, 2024. Femke Bol of Netherlands reacts after winning semi final 3. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
Even Rodney chimed in, saying that Sydney hadn’t run the 400m hurdles since the Grand Slam. With Femke now holding the world lead and having recently run a 49 in the flat 400, she’s clearly in top form. Sydney may be focused on breaking the American record in the 400m flat, but Femke has proven she’s no slouch there either. If Sydney chooses to run the 400m hurdles at Worlds, it could be a much closer race than people expect. And when you look at how Femke Bol’s recent domination has been, you would agree.
Femke Bol’s recent domination
Femke Bol has been quite the thing in the 2025 season – unstoppable, if one must say. She opened her season in Rabat with a stunning 52.46s meeting record, unveiling a new technique we talked of earlier. From there, she followed up with a 52.51s meet record win in Hengelo, then smashed her record again in Stockholm with 52.11s, just 0.04s off the world lead, clearly pulling clear of her rivals in each successive race. Done with her record, she thought of going for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s world lead.
Sydney McLaughlin‑Levrone was leading the season with a 52.07s 400 m hurdles time, clocked at the Grand Slam Track meet in Miami on May 3, 2025. But then came the Dutch athlete. In Monaco, she crushed the field with 51.95 s, setting a new world lead and meeting record, erasing American domination and extending her Diamond League winning streak to 28 races. Then she went to London with a secret message. There she clocked a time of 52.10 seconds, once again taking the number one spot on the podium. Taking it all in, look at the performance and give your pick for the 2025 World Championships – Sydney or Femke?
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