Dutch athlete faceplants track with finish line at her mercy gifting GB medal

20 August 2023 , 11:08

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Femke Bol tripped just metres from the finish line during the 4x400m final (Image: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Team GB claimed a silver medal in the 4x400m relay race on the opening day of World Athletics Championships after Dutch athlete Femke Bol tripped at the finish line.

Bol ran the final leg of the race for the Netherlands and was neck and neck with American runner Alexis Holmes as they approached the finish line. And just metres from crossing the line, Bol took a hard tumble and hit her head on the track.

The 23-year-old was left dazed as she got back to her feet and stumbled over the finish line. In the process, Britain's Yemi Mary John overtook her to claim the silver medal, while the Czech Republic were later awarded the bronze medal as Bol dropped the baton in her fall and the Dutch were disqualified.

"To be honest I don't have a clue [what happened]," Bol told the BBC after the race. "I've had it once before. I'm really sorry for my team. I should finish it off. I have tired legs, I think I've had worse tired legs. It happened and it sucks big time."

The US team set a new world-record time of 3:08.80 as they claimed gold, while Britain's silver medal winning race was a new national record of 3:11.06. "It means everything," Rio Mitcham said. "Laviai [Nielsen] gave us a really good pep talk in the call room on how a medal can change your life and that's why I can't stop smiling."

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Mary John added: "It was crazy. We always knew it was going to be a fight. I fought through to the end. There were so many emotions and I really had to cross the line to realise what had just happened.

"I think every medal was at stake. So you never give up until you've run through the line. So I was conscious that anything could happen." Nielsen, meanwhile, said the team were always "quietly confident" they would win a medal in the event.

Fellow Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan suffered a similar fate in the 10,000m (Andy Astfalck/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

She said: "We all start as we mean to go on. I think we have a small team, but I think it's a strong team. We were quietly confident that we could get a medal. Hopefully, the people back in the hotel have been watching that and can take inspiration."

Bol was not the only Dutch athlete to suffer a fall at the World Championships, with Sifan Hassan missing out on a medal in the 10,000m event after she tripped on the home straight while neck and neck with Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay. And Hassan accused Tsegay of pushing her after the race.

Hassan told the BBC: "I think I got pushed by the Ethiopian. I hope I am not crazy. I will need to look at the replay to see what exactly happened." Tsegay, meanwhile, said: "When Sifan tried to cross my line not far from the finish, I even did not pay attention to that."

Matthew Cooper