Femke Bol Continues Blistering Winter Season With 49.26 Clocking In 400

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo by John Nepolitan

Femke Bol of The Netherlands said she knew she'd broken the world record by the roar that came from the crowd at the Dutch Indoor Championships on Sunday at Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. 

Just a few days ahead of her 23rd birthday, the silver medalist at the Oregon22 World Championships in the 400-meter hurdles ran 49.26 seconds on the indoor oval to crush Jarmila Kratochvilova's record of 49.59 from 1982.

Kratochvilova, who competed for the former Czechoslovakia, was a dominant figure in the early 1980s in both the 400 and 800 meters. 

Bol ran a world indoor all-time best of 1:05.63 in the 500 meters in Boston, an early indication that she was ready for a big season in 2023.

She earned a bronze medal in the Tokyo Games in the 400-meter hurdles, behind Americans Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad.

Bol was pushed in Sunday's race by Lieke Klaver, one of her teammates on the World Championship silver medal mixed 4x400 relay team. Klaver was second in 50.34.