Femke Bol takes 400m hurdles gold in Tokyo; Ties Sifan Hassan for all-time medal record

Femke Bol won the world title in the 400-meter hurdles for the second time in a row at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Friday. The 25-year-old from Amersfoort took the gold medal with a time of 51.54 seconds, her fastest of the year. With the victory in front of the sold-out crowd at the Japan National Stadium, Bol claimed her sixth career World Athletics Championships medal, tying distance runner Sifan Hassan as the top Dutch athlete to ever participate in the event.

Bol won the final with a landslide victory. She was already in first place after the first 100 meters, and she extended her lead as the event progressed. She ran the race according to plan, pushing hard over the first three hurdles, establishing a solid pace through the bend, and then maintaining a lead on the final straight.

American athlete Jasmine Jones took silver with a time of 52.08 seconds, while Slovakia's Emma Zapletalova took bronze in 53.00. Bol's main rival, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, did not compete. The American skipped the 400-meter hurdles in Tokyo to focus solely on the 400 meter sprint. Dalilah Muhammad was then considered Bol's most significant competitor at the start of the event. However, she finished her farewell race in seventh place with a time of 54.82.

Bol won silver with the mixed 4x400-meter relay team this week in Tokyo. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, she won gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400-meter relay. She claimed two silver medals at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene during the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400-meter mixed.

The victory also means that Bol is just the second Dutch athlete after Dafne Schippers to defend her world title. Schippers won gold in the 200 meters in both 2015 and 2017.

She was already was considered the overwhelming favorite for gold beforehand. Bol is undefeated in the 400-meter hurdles this year, and has now won 30 consecutive times in the prestigious Diamond League.

With the victory at the Japan National Stadium, Bol tied distance runner Sifan Hassan as the top Dutch athlete to ever participate at the World Athletics Championships. They jointly lead the all-time rankings with six medals.

Hassan won bronze at the 2015 World Championships in the 1,500-meter event, followed by bronze at the 2017 World Championships for the 5,000-meters. She then took two gold medals at the 2019 World Championships in those same events, and a 5,000-meter silver at the 2023 World Championships. That year, she also earned a bronze for the 1,500 meters.

Former top sprinter Dafne Schippers is third on the all-time medal table with five World Championship medals.