Femke Bol accomplished this by finishing the race in 49.26 seconds in the Dutch indoor championships in Apeldoorn.
Follow Us
Femke Bol, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles, shattered the longest-standing world record in a track race, smashing a 41-year-old record in the women’s indoor 400m. Bol accomplished this by finishing the race in 49.26 seconds in the Dutch indoor championships in Apeldoorn. She surpassed the 49.59-second world record held by Jarmila Kratochvilova representing Czechoslovakia in March 1982. That was the oldest-standing world record in any track event on the Olympic, world, outdoor, or indoor championships calendar.
German Marita Koch’s 47.60 in the outdoor 400 meters in 1985 holds the world record. Kratochvilova’s outdoor 800m world record of 1:53.28 from 1983 is presently the longest-standing world record. Only once has a woman come inside 96 hundredths of a second of Kratochvilova’s 800m record. Helena Fibingerova’s indoor shot put world mark of 22.50 meters recorded in 1977 is the one older world record in all of the sport of athletics and not just races.
Bol established a record earlier this indoor season for the indoor 500m with a timing of 1:05.63, which is not included in the world championships schedule. She also holds the record for the quickest time ever in the 300-meter hurdles event, clocking 36.86s, also not a part of the Olympic or world championships. Bol, 22, earned bronze in the 400 hurdles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In her signature competition, i.e., the 400-meter hurdles, Bol is the third-fastest female in history, behind Americans Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad. Last year, she finished second in a race dominated by McLaughlin-Levrone in a world leading time. Bol finished 1.59 seconds behind her.
After winning the competition, Bol stated, “It was because of all the fans here that I ran this record. 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.” “I was hoping to run the record, of course, but in life you hope for a lot of things and most of the time it does not happen,” she further said to the World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics. She then added, “I am glad that I did not just get the record, but that I improved it by a big margin.”
Read more: What is Femke Bol’s net worth, salary and brand endorsements?
Read more: Who is Femke Bol’s boyfriend? Know everything about Ben Broeders
