Femke Bol of the Netherlands on Sunday set a new world record in women's indoor 400-meter race, shattering one of track and field's oldest records that had stood for 41 years, according to CNN.
The news outlet further stated that, at the Netherlands national championships in Apeldoorn, 22-year-old Bol competed in front of her home crowd and shattered Jarmila Kratochvlova's 49.59-second world record from 1982.
An Olympic and world medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, Bol also established a world record in the 300-meter hurdles last year in Ostrava, clocking in at 36.86 seconds.
"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 so many people here. When I crossed the line I knew that the record was mine, because of the noise that the crowd made."
She got a typical strong start and went through 200 metres in 23.63 seconds before surging over the finish line in 49.26 seconds, chased by Lieke Klaver, who was second in 50.34 seconds.
Bol had given an indication of her impressive form two weeks ago when she clocked the fastest women's indoor 500m ever with a time of 1 minute, 05.63 seconds at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix.
She was the first woman to break 1:06 at the distance, breaking Russian Olesya Krasnomovets-Forsheva's previous world record of 1:06.31 set in January 2006.
Bol won European titles last year in the 400m hurdles, 400m flat, and 4x400m relay. She also won 400-meter hurdles silver at the World Championships in Eugene, which was followed by bronze at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
(With inputs from agencies)
