FBK Games Hengelo Preview: Femke Bol, Schilder, Mahuchikh and Simbine Lead World-Class Fields

Posted by: Watch Athletics

Saturday, 20 June 2026

The 2026 FBK Games in Hengelo promises another outstanding edition of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series on Sunday, June 21, with a stellar international line-up featuring Olympic, world and European champions across the track and field programme. Dutch stars Femke Bol, Jessica Schilder, Nadine Visser, Lieke Klaver and Niels Laros will compete before their home fans, while Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, African sprint rivals Akani Simbine and Ferdinand Omanyala, Larissa Iapichino, Chris Nilsen and Ernest John Obiena headline a meeting packed with elite performances and compelling matchups.

Women’s 800 metres:

Femke Bol will run her second outdoor race in the women’s 800 metres after finishing second in 1:57.13 behind Audrey Werro in Ostrava on her debut over this distance. The Dutch star moved to third on the Dutch all-time list behind 1992 Olympic 800m champion Ellen Van Langen and Sifan Hassan. During the 2026 winter season Bol Broeders set the Dutch indoor record with 1:59.07 in Metz.

Bol won two world gold medals in the 400 metres hurdles in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025, five European gold medals (400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400 relay in Munich 2022, 400m hurdles and 4x400 relay in Rome 2024) and the world indoor title in the 400m in a world record of 49.17.

Bol Broeders claimed two Olympic bronze medals in the 400m hurdles in Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 and anchored the 4x400 mixed relay to Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024. She won five consecutive Diamond League titles from 2021 and 2025 in the 400m hurdles. She won in the past two editions of the Fanny Blankers Koen Games in the 400 metres in 50.02 in 2024 and in the 400m hurdles with 52.51 in 2025 setting meeting records both times.

Bol Broeders will face Halimah Nakaayi from Uganda, world champion in Doha 2019 in the 800m, Abbey Caldwell from Australia, winner in the 1500 metres in 3:57.26 at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen in 2026, and Anna Wielgosz from Poland, European indoor champion in Apeldoorn 2025 and European outdoor bronze medallist in Munich 2022.

Women’s shot put:

Dutch star Jessica Schilder will seek a win in the women’s shot put in front of her home fans. Schilder won in Shanghai with 21.09m setting a Diamond League record and the best throw in the world since 2012 and in Stockholm with 20.89m breaking the meeting record held by Valerie Adams, which had stood since 2012. Schilder claimed the world outdoor gold medal in Tokyo 2025 and back-to-back European titles in Munich 2022 and Rome 2024. She also claimed the overall Diamond League title after winning at individual meetings in Xiamen, Monaco, Chorzow and Zurich in 2025.

Schilder will face Danniel Thomas Dodd from Jamaica, world silver medallist in Doha 2019, and Jorinde Van Klinken from the Netherlands, world silver medallist in the discus throw in Tokyo 2025 and second placer in both the shot put and the discus throw in Rome 2024.

Women’s high jump:

Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchik will return to the FBK Games in Hengelo where she claimed the win in 2023 with 2.00m. The Ukrainian high jump star will be aiming to extend her winning streak after clinching five victories so far this year. She claimed her second world indoor title in Torun 2026 with 2.01m and set the world lead of 2.03m at the Memorial Demanyuk in Lviv. She started her 2026 Diamond League season with a Rabat on 31 March clearing 1.97m. Mahuchik broke Stefka Kostadinova’s world record by clearing 2.10m at the Diamond League meeting at the Charlety Stadium in Paris one month before claiming the Olympic gold medal in the French capital with 2.00m in 2024.

The line-up will also feature USA’s Charity Hufnagel, US Olympic Trials champion in 2024 with 1.94m and national indoor champion in 2026 with 1.96m, Kristina Ovchinnikova from Kazakhstan, who won the Asian Championships title and set a lifetime best of 1.96m in Almaty in 2021, and Michaela Hruba from Czechia, world under 20 champion in Bydgoszcz 2016.

Women’s 100 metres hurdles:

Nadine Visser will line up with US hurdlers Alaysha Johnson and Alia Armstrong in the women’s 100 metres hurdles.

Visser won silver medals at both the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 in 7.72 and at World Indoor Championships in Torun 2026 in 7.73 in the 60 metres hurdles. The Dutch star set the national indoor record with 12.28 at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia and won in Lausanne in 12.45. She opened her season with 12.47 at the Diamond League meeting in Rabat, finished third in Rome in 12.58 and won in Ostrava in 12.65 in a close photo-finish. She could attack the meeting record of 12.39 held by Jasmine Camacho Quinn.

Johnson finished second at the US Olympic Trials in 12.31 and seventh in the Olympic final in Paris in 2024. During this outdoor season she set a seasonal best of 12.55 at the Los Angeles Grand Prix and clocked 12.57 at the LSU Invitational and 12.75 in Bydgoszcz.

Armstrong won her first career senior title at the US indoor Championships in 7.82 and finished sixth at the World Indoor Championships in Torun in 2026.

The other athletes to watch are Marion Fourie, South African record holder with 12.49 and Olympic semifinalist in Paris 2024, Giada Carmassi, Italian record holder with 12.69 at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, Rayniah Jones from the USA, who improved her PB to 12.49 at the Anhalt meeting in Dessau and finished third in College Station in 12.62, and Maakye Tjin-A-Lim from the Netherlands, who set a PB of 12.66 in 2023.

Men’s discus throw:

Reigning Olympic champion Roje Stona from Jamaica will take on British record holder Lawrence Okoye and Germany’s Steven Richter.

Stona won the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024 setting the Olympic record with 70.00m. The Jamaican star improved his PB to 70.66m in Ramona (Oklahoma) in 2026 and finished second at the NCAA Championships for Clemson University. Stona is coached by three-time Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser.

Richter improved his PB to 74.00m in Ramona on 9 April moving to fourth on the world all-time list and claimed the win at the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia with 67.29m.

Okoye won the European bronze medal in Munich 2022 and improved the British record to 71.88m in Ramona in 2026.

Women’s long jump:

Italy’s Larissa Iapichino will renew her rivalry against France’s Hillary Kpatcha in the women’s long jump. Iapichino won the European indoor gold medal in Apeldoorn 2025 with 6.94m, the world indoor silver medal in Torun 2026 with 6.87m, the European outdoor silver medal in Rome 2024 with 6.94m and two Diamond League titles in Brussels 2024 with 6.80m and in Zurich 2025 with 6.93m.

Kpatcha won the first Diamond League competition of her career in Stockholm this year with a wind-assisted 6.85m beating Iapichino by just one centimetre. The French athlete finished fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo with 6.82m and won at the European Team Championships in Chorzow 2023 beating Iapichino.

Men’s 800 metres:

Niels Laros from the Netherlands will clash against Cian McPhillips from Ireland in the men’s 800 metres. Both athletes will make their seasonal debut.

Laros won three Diamond League races in 2025 in the Bowerman Mile in Eugene in a national record of 3:45.94, the 1500m in Brussels in 3:30.58 and in the Zurich Final in a Dutch record of 3:29.30 claiming the Diamond Trophy. The Dutch athlete won two European under 23 gold medals in the 800m in a PB of 1:44.19 and in the 5000 metres. He finished sixth in the 1500m in a national record of 3:29.54 at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and fifth over this distance at the World Championships in Tokyo.

McPhillips finished fourth in the 800 metres final at the World Championships setting the Irish record with 1:42.15.

Laros and McPhillips will be joined by Samuel Chapple from the Netherlands, European indoor champion in the 800m in Apeldoorn 2025 in 1:44.88.

Men’s 100 metres:

Akani Simbine from South Africa will face Ferdinand Omanyala from Kenya in a clash between the most recent two African 100 metres record holders.

Simbine is the second fastest African sprinter in history with a PB of 9.82 set at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, where he finished fourth. He anchored the South African 4x100 relay to a silver medal in an African record of 37.49 at the World Relays in Gaborone.

Simbine achieved the historic feat of running sub-10 seconds in the 100m for 12 consecutive years.

Omanyala set the African 100 metres record with 9.77 at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi in 2021. This year the Kenyan sprinter won the second Diamond League race of his career in Xiamen in a seasonal best of 9.94 and claimed two more wins at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 9.96 and in Gaborone in 9.95m.

The line-up will also feature Selepe Phaezel from Botswana, who finished third in the 200m in a PB of 20.01 at the Diamond League meeting in Doha, Ronnie Baker from the USA, fifth in the 100 metres at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021, world indoor bronze medal in the 60m in Birmingham 2018 and winner in the 4x100 in 37.43 at the 2026 World Relays in Gaborone, and Benjamin Richardon from Ireland, who set PBs of 9.86 in the 100m and 19.99 in the 200m in La Chax de Fonds in 2024.

Women’s 400 metres:

Lourdes Gloria Manuel will be looking to continue her good period of form. The Czech athlete won the world indoor gold medal in Torun last March in a PB of 50.76. The 20-year Czech finished second in the 400m behind Henriette Jaeger at the Diamond League meeting in Rome in a PB of 49.77 and claimed the win at the Continental Tour Gold meeting improving her lifetime best to 49.74.

Manuel will face Lieke Klaver, who trains with the Czech athlete under the guidance of Swiss coach Laurent Meuwly. Klaver won the European indoor gold medal in Apeldoorn 2025 in front of her home fans. The Dutch athlete claimed the World Indoor Tour title and the world indoor bronze medal in the 400m in Torun 2026. She clocked 50.62 in Rome and 50.64 in Ostrava in the first two 400m races of the outdoor season.

Martina Weil improved her Chilean record to 49.72 at the Diamond League Final in Zurich in 2025 and clocked 49.98 in the semifinals of the World Championships in Tokyo 2025. The Chilean athlete is the daughter of Colombia’s Ximena Restrepo, Olympic bronze medallist in the 400m in Barcelona 1992, and Chile’s Gert Weil, who took part at two editions of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988.

Men’s 400 metres:

Brazilian 400 metres hurdles specialist Matheus Lima will face USA’s Bryce Deadmon and Lee Eppie from Botswana.

Lima finished second in the 400m hurdles at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm behind his compatriot Alison Dos Santos breaking the 48 seconds barrier for the first time in his career with 47.37. Lima followed up this performance with a win in the 400 metres hurdles in Ostrava in 47.64. Lima also set a 300m hurdles PB of 33.75 at the Diamond League meeting in Keqiao. He holds the second fastest Brazilian time in the 400m with a PB of 44.52 and finished seventh in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships in Torun.

Deadmon won the Olympic gold medal as part of the 4x400 relay and finished first with the 4x400 mixed relay at the World Relays.

Eppie won the gold medal with the Botswana 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 and was part of the 4x400 team who won the Olympic silver medal in Paris in 2024. He set a 400m PB of 44.40.

The line-up will also feature Dutch athletes Jonas Phijffers, European under 23 champion in Bergen 2025, Liemarvin Bonevacia, Olympic silver medallist in the 4x400 relay in Tokyo 2021, Eugene Omalla, Olympic gold medallist with the 4x400 mixed relay, and Yuki Joseph Nakajima, who finished sixth in the 400m final at the World Championships in Tokyo in 44.62 after setting a national record of 44.44 in the heats.

Men’s 110 metres hurdles:

Japanese champion Shunske Izumya will face sub-13 performer Freddie Crittenden and Belgium’s Mchael Obasuji.

Izumiya finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest in 13.25 and won the Diamond League race in Lausanne in 13.22. He set a former national 110 metres hurdles record of 13.04 and finished fourth in the long jump with 8.21m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing 2025.

Crittenden finished fourth in the 110 metres hurdles final at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and sixth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. He set a PB of 12.93 in the US Olympic Trials in Eugene.

Men’s pole vault:

The men’s pole vault will feature a clash between Olympic and world medallists Chris Nilsen and Ernest John Obiena. Nilsen won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2021 with 5.97m and two world outdoor medals (silver in Eugene 2022 with 5.94m and bronze in Budapest 2023 with 5.95m). Obiena won the world bronze medal in Eugene 2022 with 5.94m and the world silver medal in Budapest 2023 with the Asian record of 6.00m.

The other athletes to look out for are Ben Broeders from Belgium, seventh at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and Belgian record holder with 5.85m, Ersu Sasma from Turkey, fifth in the Olympic final in Paris 2024 with 5.85m, Simen Guttormsen from Norway, NCAA champion in 2025 and brother of national record holder Sondre Guttormsen.

Men’s 5000 metres:

Florian Bremm from Germany will be seeking his second consecutive win in the 5000 metres after setting a PB of 12:56.80 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.