OSTRAVA — Femke Broeders-Bol will make her outdoor 800m debut at Tuesday’s Golden Spike in the Czech city of Ostrava, her coach Laurent Meuwly backing the former hurdler to mix it with the best over two laps.
Broeders-Bol may only be 26 but she has packed a lot into her career thus far, winning two world gold medals over the 400m hurdles.
It is a discipline in which she has shone on the elite Diamond League circuit, last year completing an incredible sixth campaign unbeaten.
Her exceptional finishing pace has also seen her claim multiple medals as the anchor leg in 4x400m relay teams, notably a gold in the mixed event in the Paris Olympics.
But the Dutch athlete opted to step away from the hurdles, which has been dominated on the Olympic scene by US rival and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Broeders-Bol, whose name change is due her marriage to Belgian pole vaulter Ben Broeders, ran her first 800m since 2017 in February, clocking a national record of 1min 59.07sec before withdrawing from the rest of the indoor season to nurse a foot injury.
Coach Meuwly is under no illusion of his charge’s capability.
“I think she’ll surprise a lot of people in this first month of competition,” Meuwly said according to AFP.
“There’s a lot of excitement because it’s been a long period without racing. We’re looking forward to a new challenge.”
He also hinted that the oldest world record in athletics – the 1:53.28 for the outdoor 800m set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia in 1983 – could be under threat.
“I’ve always said that if Femke switched to the 800 metres, it was because I also felt that the 800-metre world record was more within her reach than the 400m hurdles record,” Meuwly said.
“It’s a record that dates back a very long time, from an era when we know there were quite a few doping issues, so there’s a bit of a myth surrounding this 800m record.
“But when we started considering making the switch, I was absolutely convinced that it was possible for women to run 1:52, or even faster.”
