The semifinal of the Olympic 400m hurdles is in the books, and one of the most anticipated matchups of these Games is officially set. USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol of the Netherlands each won their semifinal race and will be on the start line for arguably the most anticipated matchup of the Paris Olympics.
McLaughlin-Levrone breezed through her semifinal, starting out to a commanding lead and never looking back, running 52.13 seconds, the fastest time of the day’s races. Bol had USA’s Anna Cockrell to contend with, and after catching her on the backstretch, it was Bol’s race to the finish.
Sydney’s USA teammates, Jasmine Jones and Anna Cockrell, also earned automatic qualifiers in their races and will join the top contenders in the Olympic final.
Femke Bol already has one Olympic gold medal from these Games, following her incredible 47.93-second anchor leg in the final for the mixed 4x400m relay. Both she had McLaughlin-Levrone have run sub 51-second times for the 400m hurdles this year, the only two women in history to accomplish the feat. Both the world record (50.65s) and Olympic record (51.46s), however, belong to Sydney.
The highly anticipated final matchup will take place on Thursday, August 8, with a scheduled start time of 3:25pm ET.
