Just because Femke Bol has a strong fan base doesn’t mean she needs it. In 2024, after a long Olympic season where she won 3 medals, she still raced later at the Wanda Diamond League Final, trusting the crowd to lift her. She said, “With the support of the fans, it should be possible to do something nice.” Fast forward to 2026, she returned to a home meet in Hengelo for the 800m- a new event where she would usually rely on home support. But this time the stadium was mostly empty, and yet she dominated the race.

On June 21, Bol claimed her first outdoor 800m win at the FBK Games by running 1:57.41 to take victory on Dutch soil. Interestingly, she controlled the race from the very start and soon moved off the final bend to take the win ahead of Abbey Caldwell (1:58.22 SB) and Clara Liberman (1:58.69 PB).

After the race, she said, “I’m winning here in my own country, and I’m really learning as I go. The great thing about the 800 meters is that I get to enjoy the crowd for an extra minute.” (translated into English using Google Translate). Interestingly, that win also came from lessons she picked up just days before in Ostrava.

Five days ago, she had raced at the Golden Spike in the 800m. There she finished second in 1:57.13, a personal best at the time. It was a faster, more aggressive race, led by Audrey Werro, and it pushed Bol into a different kind of 800m experience, one where she had to react more than control. That is why Hengelo felt different.

As she explained after the race: “I expected to be in front after 500 metres, which was different than in Ostrava. I have to practise all these types of races. Today I wanted to run a good first 500 metres and then accelerate towards the finish.” She adjusted and pulled her plan together in Hengelo, although she didn’t have the same ‘home roar’ she is accustomed to.

The FBK Games usually draw a full 8,000 crowd, and the games are often sold out. This time, however, more than a thousand tickets went unsold due to the heat. But none of it could distract her.

What’s more, it wouldn’t have felt this hard to win if she hadn’t changed the event she once completely dominated.

Femke Bol leaves her comfort zone for a new challenge

From the start, Femke Bol was in the hunt for a medal in the 400m hurdles. She started her professional career in 2019, where she ran 55.94 seconds for an age group record in Geneva in her 3rd race, qualifying her for the World Championships at 19 years. Thereafter, her career went very quickly. She won the world title in 2023 and in 2025 and ran a world-class 51.54, and broke the European record with 50.95.

In 2025, however, she decided to push for the 800m, not due to a decline in her performance, but because she is seeking a new goal to pursue. She said, “The switch feels really, really nice, really exciting, also really scary. I’m still young. I’m mentally, physically, feeling really fit, and it’s, it’s a really, really big challenge. That’s also why I want to do it while I still feel at my best.”

She also explained how the decision came after reflection post-Olympics: “I also really feel ready for new impulse, new kind of training, new kind of racing… after the Olympics, you start to re-evaluate everything.” But early signs showed why her move to 800m is worth it.

In February 2026, in her first international 800m, she ran 1:59.07 indoors in Metz. There she set a Dutch national record and became the first Dutch woman to break two minutes indoors. And that is where her story now sits. Not in leaving dominance behind, but in choosing discomfort on purpose, just to see how far she can go again, with eyes already drifting toward what could come next, even the 2028 Olympics.