By all indications, the women’s 400m hurdles at the upcoming World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary, would appear to offer one key question – how much faster can Femke Bol go?

Following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s decision not to defend the world title she won in her home setting of Oregon last year, when she left her Dutch rival halfway down the finishing straight as she improved her world record to a staggering 50.68s, Bol’s pathway has now been cleared.

The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist prepared for the 400m hurdles in spectacular fashion during the indoor season, as she worked on her speed over 400m flat. To such effect that on February 19, she broke the longest standing athletics track record in the book when she clocked 49.26s to win the Dutch indoor title, eclipsing the mark of 49.59s set in 1982.

The high point of her season so far occurred in front of a sell-out 50,000 crowd at the London Stadium on July 23, as she ran a European and Diamond League record of 51.45s.

"I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo. I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it," said the 23-year-old.

Her time was one-hundredth of a second faster than McLaughlin-Levrone ran to win the Tokyo Olympic title in a race where Bol finished third behind the defending champion Dalilah Muhammad.

It was only four-hundredths of a second slower than the world record McLaughlin-Levrone set at last year’s US trials in Oregon. But it was the best part of a second slower than the current world mark of 50.68s run by her rival at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

Such is the measure of the challenge for this amiable Dutch athlete.

While McLaughlin-Levrone will be absent from the event – and indeed the championships because of a late knee issue – her predecessor as world and Olympic champion, Muhammad, will be present, albeit that the 33-year-old’s season’s best of 53.53s only has her at fifth place in this season’s world list.

Muhammad’s US colleague Shamier Little, whose 2021 personal best of 52.39s has her at fifth place in the all-time list, will also be a medal contender, as will the Jamaican trio of Andrenette Knight, who has clocked 53.26s this season; Janieve Russell, with a 2023 best of 53.65s; and Rushell Clayton, who has clocked 53.79s.

Look out too for Britain’s Jessie Knight, who has run a personal best of 54.09s this season, and Viktoriya Tkachuk of Ukraine, who has a best of 53.76s.