World and European champion Femke Bol is off to a record-breaking start to the indoor season. The Dutch long sprinter runs times in the 200 and 400 meters that the athletics world has never seen before. The world record is only an unofficial one.
It is often said about sprinting that it becomes particularly fast when it looks effortless. And hardly anyone looks as relaxed when running (briskly) as Femke Bol. The Dutchwoman almost floats over the track with her springy step and at the age of 23 she has already won almost everything there is to win. At the 2022 European Championships in Munich, she won gold in the 400 meters, 400 meters hurdles and in the 4×400 meter relay. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest she won the 400 meter hurdles and the 4×400 meter relay. She is of course one of the big favorites for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
Bol has now started the indoor season in Metz, France – and has broken a 42-year-old record. First she triumphed over 400 meters in 49.69 seconds, then she ran the 200 meters in 22.64 seconds. Dem According to statistician PJ Vazel This combination of both achievements means an unofficial world record. Bol’s times are “the fastest 400/200 combo ever,” Vazel wrote on The Czechoslovakian ran 49.64 and 22.76 seconds in Vienna, which added up to 0.07 seconds slower – 72.33 for Bol to 72.40 for Kratochvilova.
Bol’s coach Laurent Meuwly had said before the competition that Bol was currently in even better shape than at the same time last year. In 2023, in mid-February, she improved the indoor world record over 400 meters to 49.26 seconds, thereby also improving a more than 40-year-old mark set by the Czechoslovakian Kratochvilova. Kratochvilova still holds the world record for the 800 meters (1:53.28 minutes) in the open air; only GDR track and field athlete Marita Koch (47.60) was ever faster over the 400 meters (47.99 seconds) in an era known as… peak period of doping. Kratochvilova once said that she had received regular injections, but supposedly only with vitamins.
“Femke on fire”
While Kratochvilova set her best times with a powerful running style, Bol rushes from record to record with long, graceful strides. In July 2023 she improved the European record in the 400 meter hurdles to 51.45 seconds, only world record holder Sydney McLaughlin (50.68) was ever faster. However, the eagerly awaited duel at the World Championships did not materialize because McLaughlin ended her season early – Bol took advantage of the absence and not only won gold, but also each of her eleven races over the stadium circuit with hurdles.
“That’s a great way to start the season,” the Dutch association said on X, noting that Bol had also improved the national indoor record in the 200 meters. “Another great season is on the horizon,” commented the European Athletics Federation on the video of Bol’s 400-meter run in Metz, while the world association was brief with “Femke on fire”.
The 49.69 seconds is also the world’s best performance for the year and the sixth best time ever achieved over the two indoor laps. This of course puts Bol, four-time European indoor champion, in position for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow at the beginning of March. Two years ago in Belgrade she won two World Championship silver medals (400 and 4×400 meters), so a title there is still missing from her collection. That’s why the focus this indoor season is not on records, “but on becoming world champion in Glasgow,” as her coach Meuwly recently said. Bol can also be trusted to combine one with the other.