The 400 meters feels like an eternal quest for Lieke Klaver. She knows she can do so much better. In the World Cup final, as often happened, she fell too far back on the tricky final straight. She came sixth. “I’m good, but not good enough yet,” she said at the NOS .
Lieke Klaver is an original blabbermouth and honest. After the strong semi-final, she called the 400 meters ‘the searching speed event’. It must feel like flying, like running on the treadmill at Schiphol. She shouldn’t start too hard, but certainly not too slow either. In the World Cup final, the 25-year-old athlete started like a comet. She had to pay for that on the last right piece with legs that refused to continue.
She finished sixth, after her international breakthrough last year with fourth place. She wanted so badly to improve her personal best (49.81), but ended up at 50.33. The gold went to the Dominican Marileidy Paulino, the silver to the Polish Natalia Kaczmarek and the bronze went to Sada Williams from Barbados.
Her race needs to be thoroughly analyzed. But the hard start was a very conscious choice, she explained to the NOS while panting. ,,No guts, no glory, we had said before. I hadn’t started this hard in a long time, but we wanted to see how it would go in this good shape. I am very happy with the balls I had in this race.”
Klaver was deep this season and spoke very openly about the heart palpitations and dark thoughts on several occasions. She now calls it, looking back six months later, a ‘mental dip’. She finds a burnout too much, she was able to pick up her sport again quite quickly. She learned from it. Consciously take breaks in a day to relax better. For example, she makes word searches here in her hotel room in Budapest. With the regained peace, the fast times quickly came back into the picture.
In the World Cup final, Klaver wanted to make a shot at the highest achievable. Her quest will continue. Sitting cross-legged, Klaver saw flags handed to the three women who finished on the podium after her finish. ,,I have not had that feeling of the right speed for the 400 meters,” said Klaver in Budapest. “But I’m so close. I feel it.”. Desperately: ,,I am good, but not yet good enough for the first three places.”
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