Bol improves 41-year-old world record indoor with 49.26

Athlete Femke Bol has broken a world record that stood for 41 years. The 22-year-old from Amersfoort set a time of 49.26 in the NK indoor athletics on the 400 meters. With that, she improved on the 49.59 record set by Jarmila Kartochvilova in 1982. Bol won her fourth dutch title with it.

Bol showed her impressive form earlier this month by running a world record at the 500 meters (1.05,63), and she ran under 50 seconds in her first run of the season at the 400 meters in Metz, France (49.96). That same evening, she also ran a Dutch record of 22.87 in the 200 meters.

The next target for Bol is retaining her European Indoor title. In 2021 she took home the European gold in Torun, Poland, she ran 50.63. That was the Netherlands' record at the time. The title was the base for her bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympics in Tokyo.