Vemke Paul continued her winning streak in the 400m hurdles on Monday. Ten days after the success of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, world champion Gala de Castelli won the international competition with a time of 52.79 seconds.
Paul had to give everything he could in the Swiss Bellinzona to defeat the American Shamir Little. Only at the final hurdle did the 23-year-old from Amersfoort distance himself from Little, who finished second behind Paul in Budapest. Dutch Kathleen Peters came in third with a time of 55.25 seconds.
Peters and Paul also took the world title in the 4x400m in Budapest, with Lekki Claver and Evelyn Salberg.
The Dutch athletics team won a total of five medals in Budapest: gold for the Paul and women’s relay, silver and bronze for Sivan Hasan, and bronze for heptathlon Anouk Vetter. It was the Netherlands’ best ever performance at the IAAF World Championships.
Poole concludes its season with two Diamond League appearances. On Friday, she will take part in her favorite round, the Diamond League, in Brussels. A week later I participated in the final weekend of the Diamond League in Eugene, USA.
