McLaughlin-Levrone, Bol set up Olympic showdown in 400M hurdles

PARIS (AP) — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. and Femke Bol of the Netherlands will go head-to-head at the 2024 Olympics in just the third matchup between this generation's two top female hurdlers.

Their showdown in the 400-meter hurdles final on Thursday night is a big one. McLaughlin-Levrone is the reigning Summer Games champion and keeps breaking the world record, over and over; Bol is the reigning world champ — it probably helped that the American was injured and not there — and already picked up a gold in Paris with a terrific last leg for the Dutch in the 4x400-meter mixed relay on Saturday.

So far, McLaughlin-Levrone is 2-0 against Bol, beating her at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, then again at 2022 world championships.

“Iron sharpens iron," McLaughlin-Levrone said Tuesday night at Stade de France after each woman won her semifinal heat to qualify for the medal race. "It’s always fun racing the best, and I know we’re going to push each other.”

There certainly was no pushing going on during the semifinals.

McLaughin-Levrone eased up quite a bit down the stretch and still finished 1.7 seconds in front of the running-up, clocking 52.13. How swift is that? That would have broken the world record of 52.16 that was held by another U.S. runner, Dalilah Muhammad, before the New Jersey-born McLaughlin-Levrone began lowering the mark regularly.

She initially took it down to 51.90 in 2021, and then broke it four more times to get it to the current standard of 50.65, which arrived at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.

McLaughlin-Levrone's heat came first, and Bol was asked whether she watched her rival run.

“Only on the screen, quickly. I mainly focus on my own race," Bol said. "And to be fair, you can’t really get much out of (watching) semifinals anyway.”

Bol was first across the line in hers Tuesday in a time of 52.57.

“Hopefully, I’ll be ... in the best form and shape of my life" for the final, Bol said. "We’ll see in two days’ time.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games