Femke Bol sets a meeting record in the 400m hurdles at the FBK Games in Hengelo (© Dan Vernon for World Athletics)
Dutch stars Femke Broeders-Bol and Jessica Schilder will be among the headline names at the FBK Games as the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series continues in Hengelo on Sunday (21).
Broeders-Bol, the two-time world 400m hurdles champion, will contest the women’s 800m on home soil just days after making her outdoor debut at the distance. Racing over two laps at the Golden Spike in Ostrava earlier this week, she finished second in 1:57.13, a performance that moved her to third on the Dutch all-time list behind Ellen van Langen and Sifan Hassan.
In Hengelo, Broeders-Bol will take on 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi and Australia’s Abbey Caldwell.
Schilder, meanwhile, returns to home soil as world champion and world leader in the women’s shot put. The Dutch thrower has enjoyed a breakthrough season, highlighted by her Diamond League record of 21.09m in Shanghai, the best throw in the world since 2012.
She backed that up with a 20.89m victory in Stockholm, which suggests the FBK Games meeting record of 20.86m, which has stood since 1997, could be in danger. In Hengelo, Schilder will face Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd.
Mahuchikh and Stona among other global champions in action
The men’s discus brings together Olympic champion Roje Stona, British record-holder Lawrence Okoye and Germany’s Steven Richter.
In the women’s high jump, Olympic champion and world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh will be looking to extend her winning streak after notching up five victories from her five outings so far this year.
World indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel lines up in the women’s 400m in recent PB form. The Czech athlete improved to 49.77 at the Rome Diamond League and then 49.74 in Ostrava, where she won in front of a home crowd. She will face Dutch athlete Lieke Klaver and Chile’s Martina Weil, both sub-50-second athletes at their best.
Dutch record-holder Nadine Visser will line up in the women’s 100m hurdles, taking on US duo Alia Armstrong and Alaysha Johnson.
In the men’s 110m hurdles, Japanese champion Shunsuke Izumiya faces Belgium’s Michael Obasuyi and USA’s sub-13-second performer Freddie Crittenden.
Akani Simbine and Ferdinand Omanyala headline the men’s 100m, while Botswana’s Lee Eppie, USA’s Bryce Deadmon and Brazil's in-form hurdles specialist Matheus Lima are among the entries for the men’s 400m.
Irish record-holder and world finalist Cian McPhillips will make his season debut in the men’s 800m. He faces European indoor champion Samuel Chapple and Diamond League 1500m champion Niels Laros, who is also making his 2026 debut.
Germany’s Florian Bremm, who recently won in Turku in 12:56.80, will be seeking another victory in the men's 5000m.
Elsewhere, the men’s pole vault offers a clash of world and Olympic medallists, with USA’s Chris Nilsen taking on Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines. In the women’s long jump, Diamond League champion Larissa Iapichino faces France’s Hilary Kpatcha.
