Dutch Runner Femke Bol Sets Women’s Indoor 400-Meter World Record

The previous record was held for nearly 41 years.

Dutch Olympic track runner Femke Bol made history Sunday when she broke the longest-standing track record in the world, the nearly 41-year-old mark in the women’s indoor 400 meters.

The previous record was set by Czech runner Jarmila Kratochvilova with a time of 49.59 seconds in March 1982. The record was the oldest on record in any track event, including the Olympics or world outdoor or indoor championships.

The 22-year-old Bol broke the record in the Dutch indoor championships when she recorded a time of 49.26 seconds.

“I was hoping to run the record, of course, but in life you hope for a lot of things and most of the time it does not happen,” Bol said, via World Athletics. “I am glad that I did not just get the record, but that I improved it by a big margin.”

World record race 👀

4️⃣9️⃣.2️⃣6️⃣ 🤯

Watch how Femke Bol tears up the track at the 🇳🇱 championships in Apeldoorn 🔥

⬇️

https://t.co/GIuf2X549N

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 19, 2023

In the Tokyo Olympics, Bol won the bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles.

Now, the longest-held record in track is another record by Kratochvilova—her outdoor 800-meter time of 1:53.28, set in 1983.