The Flying Dutchman Femke Bol wins with ease – behind her stands the most successful Swiss athletics coach in history

It looks so easy when Femke Bol races around the track, which is peppered with ten hurdles: The pace is right, the rhythm is just right, and she doesn't even have to push her talent to win with a time of 51.45, the third-best time in history. Her coach, Laurent Meuwly, can celebrate her 47th medal this evening since becoming the Dutch national coach in 2019.

Bol was a diamond in the rough, just 19 years old, when Laurent Meuwly moved to the Netherlands in 2019. At the time, she was still running the 400m flat, and he convinced her to switch to the long hurdles. At the end of May 2019, she competed in this discipline for the first time, and just two months later, she was the U20 European Champion.

Meuwly has always looked not only at the athletes' potential, but also at the level of performance in the various disciplines. The 400m hurdles were the event that gave Bol the best chance of winning a medal. The Freiburg native says: "Genetics plays a major role in sports, especially in the flat sprint. In the hurdles, however, you can make up for a lot with technique and tactics."

He came to this realization years ago. In a 2010 interview with the NZZ newspaper, he spoke about the heptathlete Lea Sprunger, whom he had trained since her youth. A year earlier, she had won bronze at the U20 European Championships. However, Meuwly didn't see much of a future for her as a multi-athlete and said he wanted her to win medals in the long hurdles someday. But first, she needed to improve her basic speed. So he promoted her to a 200-meter runner and captain of the newly launched 4 x 100-meter relay project.

In 2015, the athlete began competing seriously in the 400m hurdles, winning bronze at the European Championships in 2016, and becoming European Champion in 2018. Meuwly's long-term strategy had paid off. It was not least the successes with Sprunger that helped the Swiss coach establish an international reputation. When the Dutch federation approached him in 2018, he resigned from his position at Swiss Athletics.

As the person responsible for the relay project in Switzerland, he was annoyed by the constant demands for compromises. Specifically, for example, Mujinga Kambundji didn't want to participate in all relay training sessions in order to improve her medal chances in the individual races. This led to a rift, and in 2015, the Bernese athlete temporarily withdrew from the relay team.

In the Netherlands, Meuwly got what he had always wanted: a highly professional environment at the Olympic training center in Papendal and complete freedom of choice. Meuwly is responsible for the long sprinters and all relay teams, but also writes the training plans for the short sprinters. When he took over the relay teams, his first message was: "Either you're in and do everything – or you're out."

This also applies to Femke Bol. Without her, the Dutch would never have won so many medals. In addition to the 400m hurdles, she also runs the mixed relay and the women's 4x400m. That amounts to six races over the grueling lap of the track within nine days. At the 2023 World Championships, she fell in the mixed relay ten meters from the finish line, with gold and the world record in sight. She got back up and became world champion in the hurdles five days later, then added gold with the women's relay.

As the Dutch national coach, Meuwly has three assistants, along with experts in biomechanics, nutrition, performance testing, and much more. In Switzerland, he was not only the national coach but also led a professional sprint team in Lausanne. "I felt like I was a one-man show. Back then, I had to do everything myself that I get from experts today."

According to Lea Sprunger, Meuwly is someone who gives his all for the sport. "He wants success – for his athletes, but also for himself." Therefore, he expects his athletes to give their all as well. Meuwly is said to be a tough coach. Sprunger says that's the wrong word. "He's demanding."

As an athlete, you have to be able to deal with that. Sprunger and Meuwly sometimes had heated discussions, during which both of them raised their voices. "Sometimes we didn't speak to each other for two days," says Sprunger. Both knew that their trusting relationship could withstand such things.

The job in Papendal was the fulfillment of a coaching dream for Meuwly, says Sprunger. He was able to bring three athletes from Switzerland with him: Lea Sprunger, Kariem Hussein, and Ajla Del Ponte. The latter finished fifth in the 100m at the 2021 Olympic Games and still trains in Papendal today. Meuwly has extended his contract until the 2028 Games, but insisted on bringing foreign athletes into his group.

Today, there are half a dozen women and men, all young talents. He receives many inquiries, says the coach. "But I only want to work with young people I can shape." Lea Sprunger says the Freiburg native thinks in Olympic cycles. "I can well imagine him building his own professional team after Los Angeles 2028."