WATCH: Femke Bol breaks Rabat Diamond League meet record in season opener, places only behind Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s world-leading mark

Dutch track athlete Femke Bol clocked a meet record run time at the Rabat Diamond League held on May 25. Bol registered a run time of 52.46 seconds to defeat the likes of Rushell Clayton and Andrenette Knight in her first DL outing of the season.

This was also Bol's first individual race of the year after the two relays she featured in at the European Indoors, and she made a huge leap in the current 400m hurdles 2025 world lead charts. The 400m hurdles World Champion's run time in the Rabat event is second in the list, just behind her arch-rival, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (run time of 52.07 seconds at the Miami Grand Slam Track event).

In a video from her race in the Rabat DL event, Bol could be seen gaining the lead quite early, and then quite convincingly managed to maintain the distance and momentum ahead of her opponents.

Here is the video:

Bol was the only athlete who clocked a time less than 53 seconds during the race. Jamaica's Andrenette Knight and Italy's Ayomide Folorunso followed Bol in the second and third positions with run times of 53.90 and 54.74 seconds, respectively.

Femke Bol expresses thoughts on getting better on the track in this ongoing 2025 season

Femke Bol at the European Indoors (Image via: Getty)

Femke Bol recently shed light on her plans to improve on the track in the 2025 season. The Dutch athlete has some major events coming up, such as the World Championships, where she will be determined to defend her 400m hurdles title.

Bol shared that she is looking to work on smaller details rather than just aiming for titles and medals. The Amersfoort native further added that these small improvements could help her improve her time by tenths of seconds. She said (via Olympics.com);

"Getting here is one thing, staying here is another. Now it's about focusing on the small goals again. Improving, rather than just chasing medals. I hope I can keep doing it for a long time, and keep improving even in small ways, working hard to shave off just a few tenths of a second. I prefer to let my legs do the talking instead of saying too much."

Femke Bol further talked about the Netherlands team's Mixed 4x400m relay gold at the 2024 Olympics and said that this victory was a major feat for a small country like hers.