The Dutch relay team has won a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA. Liemarvin Bonevacia, Lieke Klaver, Tony van Diepen and Femke Bol ran in the final on the 4×400 meters mixed with 3.09.90, a Dutch record. The gold went to the Dominican Republic.
The Netherlands, still fourth in the section at the last Summer Games in Tokyo, had to let the Dominican Republic and the United States go at the start of the race. Thanks to a final sprint by last runner Bol, the Americans could still be caught. The difference with the winning Dominicans on the line was 8 hundredths of a second.
In recent years, the Netherlands has made significant strides in relay numbers. The men’s team already took silver at the Tokyo Games and won the European indoor championships. No medal had been won in the mixed relay so far.
In the American sprint great Allyson Felix ran the last race of her career. The 36-year-old has won a total of 11 medals at five different Olympic Games (7 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), making her the most successful female athlete of all time in the global tournament. Her bronze medal in Eugene is her nineteenth World Cup medal for Felix.