Femke Bol ended her season with another victory in the 400m hurdles at the Gala dei Castelli in Bellinzona on Tuesday (14) evening, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting, ahead of her training partner, friend and mentor Lea Sprunger who concluded her career in front of her home fans.
Bol strode to a meeting record of 54.01 to extend her record to 11 wins from 12 races over the barriers while Sprunger drew a line under her esteemed career on a high note by finishing second in 54.53, the sixth fastest time of her career.
Sprunger’s retirement means a new European champion will be anointed at the 2022 European Championships in Munich next summer. Bol looks set to follow in Sprunger’s footsteps after her brilliant breakout season which saw her break the 53 second-barrier four times and lower the European record to 52.03.
Fellow training partner Jochem Dobber eked out a narrow win in the 400m in 45.28 ahead of Vernon Norwood from the United States in 45.31 and two-time European indoor champion Nadine Visser continued her excellent string of late season results with a meeting record of 12.57 in the 100m hurdles, her third sub-12.6 clocking since reaching the Olympic final in Tokyo.
Double Olympic finalist Mujinga Kambundji retained her excellent form all the way through to the close of the season with two fine performances in Bellinzona. After finishing second to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m - 10.78 to 10.99 - Kambundji threatened her Swiss record with victory in the 200m in 22.36, just one-tenth shy of her national record.
Further Swiss success came from national record-holder Jason Joseph who won the 110m hurdles in 13.34 from Brazil’s Rafael Pereira in 13.42.
On the in-field, Slovenia’s Tina Sutej cleared 4.70m before three attempts at a national record of 4.80m and Italy’s Filippo Randazzo won the long jump with 7.81m.
Full results here.