Klaver also took a big bite out of her personal best, which stood at 50.80. She also ran very well on Friday in the mixed 4×400 meters relay, in which she won silver with Bol, Liemarvin Bonevacia and Tony van Diepen. Her split time then was 49.32. The semifinals of the 400 meters are on Wednesday.
“It’s starting to look like it,” said 23-year-old Clover about her national record. “It is confirmation that I have worked hard and well this season. I am also very happy with the collaboration with my coach Bram Peters. He has also made me more confident.”
The 23-year-old athlete did not venture to make predictions about what else is possible. “Maybe this was the maximum, but I don’t know. We’ll see. It is a fact that I feel good and that it is finally okay.”
Eveline Saalberg was eliminated in the series of the 400 meters. She finished seventh and last in her heat with a time of 52.59.
Bonevacia also to semi-final battle
Liemarvin Bonevacia has qualified with the men for the semifinals of the 400 meters. The Dutch champion finished second in his series in a time of 45.82 and that was enough to advance to the next round.
Liemarvin Bonevacia.
AFP
Bonevacia won silver on the opening day of the World Cup on Friday with the relay team in the 4×400 meters mixed. He was initially very happy, but his mood changed when he saw that he was almost 1.5 seconds slower in the final than in the series. The realization dawned that the Netherlands would have won gold if he had run a time that suited his status.
The 33-year-old Bonevacia won silver at the Olympic Games last year with the men’s team in the 4×400 meters. He reached the final of the 400 meters individually and holds the Dutch record with 44.48.
Bonevacia bites off: ‘Please respect my performance’
Bonevacia bit off after the 400 meters series at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. The Dutch champion was disturbed by the negative tenor of the reports in the Dutch media about his performance in the final of the 4×400 meter relay mixed on Friday.
Bonevacia ran a moderate time for him (46.50), which may have cost the Netherlands a gold medal. “I think there should be a little more respect for my performance. I sacrificed myself on Friday for the team and for the Netherlands. You should be proud that we have won silver,” he said.
The 33-year-old athlete clearly needed to make a statement. “The rules have changed, only one athlete can be substituted for the final. I decided to run twice on Friday, both the series and the final. In the series I blew myself up to go really hard (44.93). If I hadn’t popped in the series, we might not even have made it to the final. I knew the final was going to be tough for me, because my muscles were sore and my legs were still tired, but I also knew that Femke Bol would do her job.”
Bol replaced Eveline Saalberg in the final and indeed ran a phenomenal lap, closing the gap to the United States and the Dominican Republic on the last meters and missing the gold by just 0.08 seconds.
Bonevacia was clearly in better shape on Sunday. He finished second in his series in a time of 45.82 and that was enough to advance to the semi-finals, which will be run on Wednesday. “It went easy. I started hard and was in the race right away. I didn’t have to go all the way. I will have to go a lot harder in the semi-finals and run my best race. I think I have to go low in 44 seconds to make it to the final.”
Vetter second after three parts heptathlon at World Championships in athletics
Anouk Vetter is second in the heptathlon after three parts at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. The Arnhem athlete, who won silver at the Olympic Games last year, took a hit in the shot put by winning that part with a personal record of 16.25 meters. Vetter started the heptathlon well with 13.30 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles and also scored many points with 1.80 meters in the high jump.
Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam leads with 3127 points. As usual, the Belgian earned a lot of points in the high jump. She won that part with 1.95 meters.
Vetter has a total of 3003 points and that is more than she had collected earlier this year after three parts at the heptathlon in Götzis, where she brought the Dutch record to 6693 points.
Emma Oosterwegel, who won bronze at the Tokyo Games, occupies sixth place in the standings with 2821 points. The all-around athletes will finish their fourth part, the 200 meters, on Monday at 3.30 a.m. Dutch time. On the second day of the heptathlon, the long jump, the javelin throw and the 800 meters follow.