Femke Bol was once again the Dutch heroine as she produced yet another stunning relay anchor leg to bring The Netherlands home for the women’s 4x400m silver medals on Saturday (10).
Bol completed her set of medals in Paris, following a mixed 4x400m gold and 400m hurdles bronze, by uncorking a 48.62 last 400m to bring her country home in 3:19.50, the fastest time by a European quartet since 1993.
Good legs from fellow mixed relay gold medallist Lieke Klaver, Cathelijn Peeters and Lisanne De Witte kept the Dutch well in contention for the medals as they battled with Great Britain and Ireland for silver and bronze, with the USA having streaked away and built a lead of the almost 60 metres going into the last baton change.
Bol tucked in behind Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley and the newly-minted British 400m record-holder Amber Anning but then sped past the pair around the outside with 50 metres to go.
Dutch dream team! 🇳🇱🍊
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 10, 2024
Olympic 4x400m silver and a Dutch record of 3:19.50! 🔥
A 48.62 anchor leg brings Femke Bol her third medal of #Paris2024 #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/x7sBdBmiTF
As Mawdsley tired slightly down the home straight, Anning showed her strength to bring Great Britain – with Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin have done the hard work on the first three legs – home for bronze in national record 3:19.72.
Ireland finished fourth – and spare a thought for 2024 European 400m silver medallist Rhasidat Adeleke who also finished fourth on the individual 400m who ran a 48.92 second leg – but the quartet of Sophie Becker, Adeleke, Phil Healy and Mawdsley were rewarded with a national record of 3:19.90.
European men's 4x400m record for Great Britain
The European men’s 4x400m record fell to the Great Britain quartet of Alex Haydock-Wilson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Lewis Davey and Charles Dobson who took the bronze medals in 2:55.83, taking almost a second off the previous record of 2:56.60 that had belong to the British team that finished second at the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996.
Haydock-Wilson ran a leg of 44.51 to handover just behind the lead-off runners from USA and Botswana, before individual 400m silver medallist Hudson-Smith turned in a 43.09 lap of the Stade de France to hand over to Davey just marginally in front of his two main rivals.
For most of the third leg, Davey rose to the challenge but tired over the final 50 metres to lose contact with USA and Botswana at the final change but Dobson didn’t switch off the gas and still delivered as 43.33 last leg.
European record and the sixth fastest time in history! 🔥
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 10, 2024
Great Britain 🇬🇧 wins 4x400m bronze in 2:55.83 to break a 28-year-old record!
Split times 🥵
Alex Haydock-Wilson 44.51
Matthew Hudson-Smith 43.09
Lewis Davey 44.90
Charles Dobson 43.33#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/d2owp0DEo7
USA prevailed in the battle for gold in an Olympic record of 2:54.43, the second fastest time in history, with Botswana finishing just one-tenth in arrears to set an African record.
Some way back in fourth, and without the 2024 400m European champion Alexander Doom, the Belgium quartet of Jonathan Sacoor, Dylan Borlée, Kévin Borlée and Florent Mabille also got a national record of 2:57.75.
Ogrodnikova makes her mentor proud
Coached by three-time Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny, Nikola Ogrodnikova threw 63.68m to get Czechia’s first athletics medal of Paris 2024.
Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi opened with 65.80m to secure the gold by almost two metres but, on a sticky night not conducive to big distances, behind her there was an intriguing battle for the other two medals.
South Africa’s Jo-Ane Van Dyk threw 63.93m early in the third round to move up to second and Ogrodnikova reached 63.68m later in the same round.
Neither could improve but hung on to their medals during a tense final three rounds which the five other women directly behind the medallists all threw over 62m metres in the competition.
🥉 BROOOOONZ | Nikola OGRODNÍKOVÁ slaví na olympiádě senzační bronzovou medaili! 🤩🎉 Ve třetí sérii zachraňovala užší finále a svým nejdelším pokusem od roku 2021 si rovnou řekla o medaili. 🤯🇨🇿 Gratulujeme k fantastickému úspěchu! 👏😍 pic.twitter.com/jalK8g9EUz
— Česká atletika (@czatletika) August 10, 2024
Croatia’s 2016 Olympic champion Sara Kolak missed out on a medal this time with 63.40m in fourth place while Poland’s Tokyo Olympic Games silver medallist Maria Andrejczyk, who led the qualifying competition with 65.52m, a distance which would have got her the silver medal, was a disappointing eighth after going no further than her first round 62.44m.
No Europeans made the podium in the high jump, won by New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr with 2.36m after a jump-off, but an Italian just missed out on a medal in fourth.
No, this time wasn’t the Tokyo champion and reigning world and European champion Gianmarco Tamberi – who hadn’t fully recovered from the kidney stones he has been suffering from in the last week and could go no higher than 2.22m – but his compatriot and 2015 world U18 champion Stefano Sottile.
Sottile produced a superb clearance at 2.34m at the first time of asking, improving his personal best by one centimetre which had stood since 2019, before bringing the bar down three times at 2.36.
However, a failure at the previous height of 2.31m counted against Sottile and he lost out on a bronze medal on the ‘count back’ rule.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics