Bol trades warning shots with McLaughlin-Levrone

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Dutch athlete wins first 400m hurdles of the year in Stockholm in 53.07 as Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie also enjoy victories at the Diamond League on Sunday

Femke Bol versus Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone over 400m hurdles is expected to be one of the tastiest clashes of the Paris Olympics. The Dutch athlete was unbeaten in the event in 2023 while the American world record-holder and Olympic champion focused on flat 400m last year. This weekend they sent out early warning shots to each other, too.

Bol Trades

Competing in her first 400m hurdles in 22 months, McLaughline-Levrone ran a smooth-looking 52.70 at The Edwin Moses Legends Meet in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday (May 31). Then, at the Diamond League in Stockholm on Sunday (June 2), Bol ran her first 400m hurdles of the year with victory in 53.07.

First blood to McLaughlin-Levrone? Well, it was a little blustery in Stockholm. For the first 300m Bol was also challenged strongly by Jamaicans Andrenette Knight (on her inside) and Rushell Clayton (on her outside) but Bol drew away in the final 100m to win by almost three quarters of a second from Clayton’s 53.78 with Knight fading to 54.62.

Competing thousands of miles away from each other, no doubt McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol will be keeping a close eye on their rival’s results. Before Paris, though, is the European Championships in Rome in a few days’ time where Bol defends her 400m hurdles crown.

Laura Muir (Getty)

Laura Muir has a fine record in Stockholm and once again enjoyed victory as she took the women’s 1500m in 3:57.99. Kicking past Birke Haylom of Ethiopia with 150m to go, Muir ran out the easy winner as Ednah Jebitok of Kenya was second in 3:58.88.

Muir said: “It was quite blustery so I just wanted to tuck in and I knew my strength would be my finishing speed so when I felt the field on my shoulder I thought ‘now the time’s to go’.”

Three days after her big 3000m win in Oslo, Georgia Griffith of Australia was third in 3:59.17 with Haylom hanging on for fourth in 3:59.84.

In sixth, Revee Walcott-Nolan ran a PB of 4:00.77, which was partly thanks to good pacemaking by fellow Brit Sarah McDonald.

Jemma Reekie’s fine form continued with victory in the women’s 800m in Stockholm in 1:57.79 from Vivian Kiprotich of Kenya, who finished almost a second behind. The Brit steps up to 1500m at the European Championships in a few days’ time.

“It was good to run a 1:57 from the front and know that I had another one in me,” said Reekie. “It probably felt too comfortable so my coach may watch it back and tell me I should have pushed it more. But it is a long season so there is plenty time for more.”

BOL TRADES WARNING SHOTS WITH MCLAUGHLIN-LEVRONE

Jemma Reekie (Getty)

There was no such luck for Brits in the men’s 800m, though, as Ben Pattison (fourth in 1:44.44), Elliot Giles (sixth in 1:45.10) and Jake Wightman (eighth in 1:45.35) were blown away in the final 100m by Djamel Sedjati – the Algerian in the form of his life as he ran a world lead of 1:43.23 to beat Bryce Hoppel by more than a second.

Three days after running 46.63 to beat Karsten Warholm at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Alison dos Santos of Brazil enjoyed better weather conditions in Stockholm as he breezed to an emphatic victory in a swift 47.01 as runner-up, Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Isles, was just over a second behind.

On a weekend that saw very quick 100m times in Jamaica from Oblique Seville of Jamaica with a 9.82 (0.9) win over Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia with 10.78 (1.3) in the women’s race, the sprint times weren’t quite as swift in Stockholm.

The women’s 100m was won by Gina Mariam Bass Bittaye of the Gambia in 11.15 (-0.8) with Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast one hundredth of a second behind.

The slight headwind on Sunday afternoon didn’t help as Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon won the men’s 100m in 10.16 (-1.0). It was even worse for the women’s 200m with -2.0m/sec as Shericka Jackson, the world champion from Jamaica, got back to winning ways with 22.69 from Julia Henriksson of Sweden (22.89) as Britain’s Amy Hunt was third in 22.92 from lane one.

Perhaps the blustery conditions were the difference between a world record or not for Mondo Duplantis as the Swedish athlete came close to 6.25m on home soil after winning the competition with 6.00m from Sam Kendricks of the United States.

BOL TRADES WARNING SHOTS WITH MCLAUGHLIN-LEVRONE

Mondo Duplantis (Getty)

Such is the standard of 1500m running lately, Britain’s Adam Fogg ran a PB of 3:35.50 but was only 11th in a race won by Robert Farkan of Germany in 3:33.53 from Ireland’s Luke McCann, who clocked 3:33.66.

The men’s 3000m was similarly strong with runners of the calibre of Stewart McSweyn and Adel Mechaal winding up seventh and eighth in a race won by Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway in 7:33.49 as he out-paced Dominic Lobalu of Switzerland and Luis Grijalva of Guatemala in the home straight.

There were also national records from Andreas Almgren of Sweden with 7:34.28, Mohamed Ismail of Djibouti in 7:36.29 and Adriaan Wildschutt of South Africa with 7:36.77.

READ MORE: JAKE MEYBURGH RUNS 3000M AGE 14 RECORD

Lamecha Girma, the world 3000m steeplechase record-holder from Ethiopia, won his event comfortably in a world lead of 8:01.63 but he was two seconds outside the meeting record.

In the women’s shot, Chase Jackson of the United States beat Sarah Mitton of Canada by just two centimetres. Her winning throw of 20.00m was just shy of her 20.03m season’s best too.

In the high jump, Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine cleared 2.00m to show she’s in great form going into the defence of her European title in Rome.

Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania was in winning form again in the discus as he threw 68.64m to beat Matt Denny of Australia by almost two metres as Swedish star Daniel Stahl was third.

JAKE MEYBURGH RUNS 3000M AGE 14 RECORD OF 8:19.46

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