THE ORANGE STOOD out in the crowd. They weren’t just dotted around, they were gathered together, bright spots in the purple haze of Stade de France. They were here for one person, one race, one tantalising head-to-head.
Femke Bol, the Dutch darling, was going to get a rare chance to line up against world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in their preferred event, the 400m hurdles. McLaughlin-Levrone was the favourite. McLaughlin-Levrone is always the favourite such is her supremacy on the track, her times across hurdles good enough to worry 400m flat runners.
But the Netherlands, after Bol’s act of supremacy of her own in the 4x400m mixed relay, her changed stride pattern, her recent sub 51 time, were willing the 24-year-old to make theirs an actual rivalry. Their names – McLaughlin and Bol – are synonymous with the event but because the American’s coach keeps her safely hidden from minor, or even middling, events, they have only shared the track twice. 2-0 Sydney.
Having clocked an important 50.95 in Switzerland last month, Bol had joined the rare club. There were now two of them.
The Dutch could deign to say her name in the same breath as McLaughlin. Just outside the world record time set in June, the American won’t be able to make a mistake, we all thought. As Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall was clapped through her final round in the long jump and the hurdles were being set on the purple rubber, the anticipation rose across the 75,000 spectators for .