Michael Johnson weighs in on Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone vs Femke Bol in relays

Michael Johnson shared his thoughts on the race between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol in the women's 4x400m relay. He gave a hypothetical situation of the world record holder being chased by the Dutch in the relay's anchor leg.

While McLaughlin-Levrone is vying for her seventh world record in the 400m hurdles, Bol recorded a stellar performance at the Rabat Diamond League, breaking the 400m meet record in her season opener. Johnson, the host of GST, has been witnessing fans discuss the two hurdlers' forms and how delightful it would be to watch them compete in the league.

In a recent X post, Johnson addressed Sydney and Femke fans and gave them a situation where Bol was chasing down McLaughlin-Levrone in the women's 4x400m relay anchor leg.

"Loving all the Syd vs Femke comments. I feel confident I know the result of a 400h or 400 flat race. But picture this. Syd gets the baton up 2 meters on a 4x4 anchor with Femke chasing!"

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While the world record holder will compete in the long sprints and short hurdles in the next Grand Slam stop in Philadelphia, slated for May 31, one fan expressed that there would be no Sydney vs Femke show because the latter would continue competing in the 400m hurdles and never grace the GST tracks.

In response, Johnson hinted at a possibility and wished to have the Dutch join the talented roster.

"If we’re honest, we know how that ends right? Would love to have Femke though. Femke vs Anna Cockrell and others is more competitive. Syd in Short Hurdles and Long Sprints is ideal, unless she’s going for another 400h WR."

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Femke Bol clinched bronze in the 400m hurdles while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone clocked 50.37s to lower the sixth world record at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone shared how she wants to transition to short hurdles

McLaughlin-Levrone at the Grand Slam Track - Miami - (Source: Getty)

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has been a force to be reckoned with in the 400m hurdles, but her next plan is to compete in the 100m hurdles and long sprints. In conversation with FloTrack, the 25-year-old shared that she would work on her hurdle technique and experience something beyond her comfort zone.

"If we are actually gonna go to the short hurdles, definitely wanna work on my hurdle technique for sure and those girls are running really fast, so I would love to go out there, challenge myself. I would love to hopefully PR and challenge myself in the one which would just help me with my sprint mechanics, help me with my hurdle technique and yeah just put myself in a different position than I'm used to."

McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol shared the 400m hurdles line-up at the 2022 World Championships, where the former trounced the Dutch for the gold.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Agnijeeta Majumder