Relay team goes for World Cup gold: ‘We still have the Femke Bol phenomenon’ | NOW

Confidence is enormous in the Dutch formation in the 4×400 meter mixed relay at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. The team thinks gold is possible in the final, which is scheduled for tonight at 4.50 am.

“We are going for gold and nothing else,” said Tony van Diepen on Friday after the series, in which the Netherlands convincingly reached the final. The Dutch foursome finished second behind the United States, while Femke Bol was spared. She will be in action in the final battle.

“We ran very well, it was a great show,” continues Van Diepen. “The Americans had a strong final runner, but we have a phenomenon called Femke Bol.”

In addition to Van Diepen, Liemarvin Bonevacia, Lieke Klaver and Eveline Saalberg also played in the series. Each team may change once and it is expected that the final runner Saalberg will make way for Bol.

Van Diepen: “I don’t know if the US will switch, but I can’t imagine they have a better runner up their sleeve than Bol.”

Slot runner Saalberg almost fell

Although the Netherlands did not run into problems in the series throughout the race, it almost went wrong. Final runner Saalberg battled with American Wadeline Jonathas for the lead and that almost led to a fall.

“We got the baton at the same time,” Saalberg said about that moment. “I thought: if I defend my position well, I will lead the way. We touched each other, but luckily I emerged as the winner.”

If the Dutch team succeeds in conquering a slice tonight, it will be the second World Cup medal ever from the Netherlands in a relay event. The only medal so far is bronze in the men’s 4×100 meters at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

At the Games in Tokyo last year, the Netherlands just missed a medal in the 4×400 meter mixed relay. The orange formation was only 0.14 seconds slower than the bronze team of the United States and the difference with the Dominican Republic was not much bigger (0.15).