Netherlands narrowly miss medal in mixed 4×400-meter relay | sport

From lane 7 Bonevacia started strong and was the first to pass the baton to Klaver, who failed to hold onto the lead and fell back to fourth. With impressive acceleration, Bol returned to first place. Angela looked like she was on the verge of a medal, but he couldn’t stop three other men from passing him in the final meters.

Remarkable

Bol’s presence in the final was striking. She is by far the fastest Dutchwoman in the 400m, but after the 400m hurdles series on Saturday morning, she said she would not be starting the mixed 4x400m. Still, she was aligned.

“I’m not going to say I’m running if I don’t already know it and this morning I just didn’t know it yet,” Bol said after the final. “I was already a little in doubt, but I only involved my coach. After the 400m hurdles race I still felt great and consulted him. I dared to take the risk, because we had a chance to win a medal. The rest of the team only heard about it this afternoon.

Dutch athletics medals are rare. Dafne Schippers won silver in the 200 meters in Rio de Janeiro five years ago and before that, 24 years ago, the Netherlands had won awards on the athletics track. Ellen van Langen won gold in the 800 meters at the Barcelona Games.

The result of this special relay in Tokyo is still provisional, as several countries (including the Netherlands) are protesting against America’s admission to the final. The United States team was initially disqualified for an illegal substitution on Friday in the series, but was allowed to participate and finished in second place. The exclusion of America could therefore result in a bronze medal for the Netherlands.

Check it out here full TeamNL program on saturday july 30

To look at here the mirror of the medal