World Championships 2023: Dutch athletes Femke Bol and Sifan Hassan suffer dramatic falls
Last updated on .From the section Athletics
| World Athletics Championships 2023 |
|---|
| Venue: Budapest Dates: 19-27 August |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and app; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; live text on evening sessions. |
For much of their respective events, Sifan Hassan and Femke Bol's first day at the World Championships was going exactly to plan.
Both Dutch athletes were in contention for gold medals, Hassan in the women's 10,000m final and Bol in the mixed 4x400m relay.
But crucially, with the finish line in sight, everything went wrong.
Battling Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay down the home straight at the start of her quest to achieve a remarkable distance treble in Budapest, Hassan tripped.
Replays showed slight contact between the athletes and by the time the London Marathon winner had returned to her feet with a bloodied elbow, the medals had already been settled in front of a stunned stadium.
"I think I got pushed by the Ethiopian," Hassan said.
"I hope I am not crazy. I will need to look at the replay to see what exactly happened."
Hassan, who progressed to the 1500m semi-finals earlier on Saturday, and defending champion Tsegay are set to face each other again over 5,000m.
"It adds a little bit of fire to the rest of the week," Paula Radcliffe, the 2005 marathon world champion, said on BBC TV.
"There was contact but whether that caused her to fall is another question. It will certainly fire her up and if anybody can put that sort of bad luck behind them then it is Hassan.
"She is very good at seeing the bigger picture. She is very rare and will be able to come back and put all of that in to the next race."
Eight-time world gold medallist Michael Johnson added: "Hassan felt the contact and I think she tried to adjust her stride - that's what caused her to fall.
"You can't adjust your stride when you're moving at that speed and you're fatigued."
In the very next event on the track, Bol suffered the same devastating fate - this time even closer to glory.
Locked side by side with American Alexis Holmes, the 23-year-old took a hard fall mere metres from the finish line.
Hitting her head against the track after stumbling forward, she dropped her team's baton, meaning a dazed Bol and the rest of the Dutch quartet were disqualified.
"To be honest I don't have a clue [what happened]," Bol told BBC Sport.
"I've had it once before. I'm really sorry for my team. I should finish it off.
"I have tired legs, I think I've had worse tired legs. It happened and it sucks big time."
Holmes, who did not appear to make contact with her rival, completed a world record run by the USA team, with Great Britain and the Czech Republic benefiting from Bol's misfortune.
"I'm still in shock, my heart is pounding. I can't believe we have just seen that back-to-back," said Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Fellow former world heptathlon champion Denise Lewis added: "You just couldn't write it, could you?
"Bol and Hassan are both medal winners. The incidents were almost carbon copies of each other. It is just incredible."
Reflecting on the scarcely believable conclusion to the opening day for the Dutch team, BBC commentator Andrew Cotter said: "What a great run by the American quartet - but this is a dark day for the Netherlands."
