Femke Bol stormed to a sensational time of 49.26* to break the world indoor 400m record at the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn on Sunday (19).
The 22-year-old dipped under 50 seconds for the first time indoors with 49.96 in Metz last weekend but in Apeldoorn she took 0.7 off that mark to better the world indoor record of 49.59 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova on 7 March 1982.
It’s not the first time that Bol has made history. The world and Olympic 400m hurdles medallist set a world 300m hurdles best of 36.86 in Ostrava last year and in her first race of this season she ran a world indoor 500m best of 1:05.63 in Boston.
Now she has a world record on her CV, too, having broken one of the longest-standing records on the books.
In Apeldoorn, Bol got a typical strong start and went through 200m in 23.63 before surging over the finish line in 49.26, chased by Lieke Klaver who was second in 50.34.
“It was because of all the fans here that I ran this record,” Bol said after her race at the Omnisport arena. “Never have I ever seen that many people here. When I crossed the line I knew that the record was mine, because of the noise that the crowd made.”
World Athletics
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
