Femke Bol breaks the world record at the World Athletics Indoor Championships

Femke Bol won the world title in the 400 meters at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow. The 24-year-old athlete from Amersfoort did this in a world record time of 49.17 seconds.

She broke her old record of 49.24, which she ran two weeks ago at the National Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn. Bol was unstoppable in the final. She took the lead after the first lap and held it until the finish.

Lieke Klaver ran in Bol's slipstream and got silver with a time of 50.16. American Alexis Holmes took bronze in 50.24.

Bol is the fifth Dutch athlete to win a world indoor title, after Elly van Hulst, Nelli Cooman, Nadine Broersen, and Sifan Hassan. It is her fifteenth medal at a major international championship.

The world title in the 400-meter indoor was a prize still missing from her list of honors. Two years ago, she won silver at that distance at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. The world champion at the time, Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas, was absent at this race in Glasgow.

Bol fulfilled her role of favorite with class in the Emirates Arena. She traveled to Glasgow with a brand new world record in her pocket and gave the spectators value for their money with convincing performances. The semi-final and final series followed the same pattern; Bol ensured that she was in the lead after the first round and accelerated in the second round, which made her too powerful for all her rivals.

A world record seemed too ambitious in Glasgow because Bol had said so beforehand. The busy schedule and stronger line-up would make it more challenging to execute a perfect race. But she mocked her own expectations by going even faster than in Apeldoorn. The 24-year-old athlete from Amersfoort is the only woman under fifty seconds this year; this is her fourth time doing so, in fact.

In the final she not only had to deal with her friend Klaver, but also with Holmes. At the World Championships in Budapest, the American led due to Bol's bizarre fall in the final of the 4x400 meter mixed relay. When Bol noticed in the last meters that Holmes was almost coming alongside, acidification struck, and her legs collapsed.