Olympic relay champion Bol to skip individual indoor races this season
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Femke Bol will not compete individually this indoor season, the Dutchwoman said on social media on Tuesday, leaving her 400 metres world indoor crown up for grabs in Nanjing in March.
Bol, who took Olympic bronze in the 400 hurdles at the Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020 Games, held in 2021 because of the pandemic, said she wanted to spend "more time processing everything that has happened" and to prioritise life outside of sport.
"After the last Olympic cycle with years full of amazing competitions indoor and outdoors, we've decided to do it a bit different this year," she said on Instagram.
"I'm training hard and preparing myself for another successful year on the track, but I also felt that I needed a bit more time away from competing."
Bol, who helped the Netherlands to Olympic gold in the 4x400 mixed relay in Paris, said she could not resist competing at a home championship and would participate in the relays at the March European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
"I am looking forward to what this year will bring me and I want to thank you all for the support," she said.
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'We've been fantastic with set-plays but if you look at the goals we conceded on Friday they didn't do what we've been doing over the last four or five years — since Austin MacPhee came in and set us a way of defending set plays. 'The first one comes from a clearance on Cieran's weaker foot that doesn't quite clear the boy in midfield. 'When the ball comes back, we allow the striker to turn and shoot, and nobody was saving that shot because it was a great finish. That's just the way it is. 'The second goal was a ball into the box that we simply didn't deal with inside the six-yard box. 'If you say that Scotland will touch the ball four or five times without any Iceland players touching the ball and it ends up in the back of the net, that has to be a disappointment. 'And at the third goal, the line didn't drop properly and it didn't drop cohesively. 'Those are things that we've always worked on and normally we're very good at, so that was disappointing. 'We've been fantastic at defending set plays for a number of years. They're just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 per cent down on their concentration, on their application of what we ask them to do. 'And when that happens it shows you can be punished. Scott McTominay's career Born in Lancaster on December 8, 1996 Joined the Manchester United youth system aged five and signed his first professional contract in 2013 Made his Premier League debut against Arsenal in May 2017 McTominay went on to win Carabao Cup and FA Cup with Man Utd Made 255 appearances and scored 29 goals for the Red Devils McTominay joined Napoli in August for £25.7million Born in England, he qualified for Scotland through his dad who's from Helensburgh McTominay was called-up by Scotland in March 2018 and has gone on to become a huge Hampden favourite He was part of the squad at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 He won his 50th cap while playing against Germany at Euro 2024 McTominay has scored some huge goals for Scotland, including an injury-time winner against Israel and his famous double in the 2-0 win over Spain in Glasgow 'It's very difficult for me to tell because I can't get inside their heads. 'Obviously we've touched on what happened with Cieran. 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