With a 51.54 finish, Femke Bol may have become the new hurdles queen in the 400m event, but she made sure to credit the athlete she sees as the true hurdle queen. Bol, who has never won against McLaughlin-Levrone on the bigger stage, admitted that she wouldn’t have won gold had Sydney participated in the 400m event. And while the American hurdler has shifted her focus to flats, Bol still wants to race against her fiercest competitor.

In a video shared by Citius Mag on YouTube, an interviewer asked, “So, do you want to race against her again in the 400-meter hurdles?” You might think she’d hesitate, but Bol didn’t: “Yeah, I hope so, for sure.” And here comes the interesting part. These are the two women in the entire world who have gone as low as below 51 seconds, but the Dutchwoman is keen to take this challenge, despite being aware that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has largely had the advantage.

“I really love to race her. She’s the best athlete to ever do it in my event. So I would’ve loved to do it. But I also love to see her do well on the 400m and show her capacities on this one,” she said. Although the clash between these two has mostly been a one-sided affair, their rivalry over the years has been nothing short of box-office.

In the Tokyo Olympics, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone took gold with a world record of 51.46, and Bol won bronze and a European record of 52.03. Paris was no different either. McLaughlin-Levrone went even more outrageous: 50.37 to take the repeat and Bol bronze once more, as usual. The only times the Dutchwoman has won gold in the 400m hurdles are when Sydney has not participated in the event. And when she successfully defended her world title in Tokyo, Bol did not shy away from admitting she missed the Paris Olympics gold medalist.

“It’s strange because I’m used that she’s there when we are in a big tournament. Throughout the season I almost never see her,” Bol added, “so that’s not really strange. But it was strange to see her race yesterday night, but it was amazing to see the way that she raced.”

And while the 25-year-old is keen on facing Sydney, the question is, will we ever see the hurdle queen back in the event? Even a bigger question, now that McLaughlin-Levrone is setting her feet in the flats, will she be able to find her way back into the hurdles?

Well, the 4x Olympics gold medalist has not ruled out the possibility yet. After winning the 400m at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, she hinted at the 2028 LA Olympics: “We will need to talk about the schedule for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games — maybe I could do both 400m and 400m hurdles.” Her coach, Bobby Kersee, also believes it could be possible depending on the schedule and her condition. So what happens next? Well…we’ll just have to wait and watch.