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Femke Bol broke track and field's longest standing record in history, shattering the 400m indoor WR by a huge margin.
Femke Bol can't stop breaking records. The Dutch track star broke her second World Record (WR) in just twenty days, running a jaw-dropping 49.26s (subject to ratification), to win the women's 400m final at the Dutch indoor championships in Apeldoorn.
The time obliterated Jarmila Kratochvilova's previous indoor 400m WR of 49.59s set in 1982, eighthen years before Bol was born.
In second place was Lieke Klaver, running a massive Personal Best (PB) of 50.34s.
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"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," said Bol. "I am glad that I did not just get the record but that I improved it by a big margin.
"I wanted this record so badly, and I knew I had to make sure to be first going into the final lap. Compared to Lievin (where she ran 50.20 four days earlier). I could really power through between 200m and 300m and that made the difference."
The super talented runner has been in outstanding form this season, having stormed to a 500m WR of 1:05.63 in Boston three weeks ago, and backed it up with a Dutch 400m indoor record of 49.96s in Metz two weeks ago to move up to fourth on the all-time indoor list.
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Last week, she didn't meet up to expectations of breaking the 400m indoor WR, as she clocked a time of 50.20s to win the event at the World Indoor Tour meet in Lievin.
"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," Bol said after her race at the Omnisport arena.
Her better event is the 400m Hurdles, where she has the third fastest time in history of 52.03s. She is also the reigning World Championships silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist in the 400mH, while winning several European titles in the 400m, 400mH and 4x400m indoors and outdoors.
She will now be looking forward to defend her European indoor title in the 400m and 4x400m next weekend, which should be an easy win as expectations are on her to lower her WR set tonight.
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