Femke Bol shatters her own 400m world record at Dutch Indoor Championships

Femke Bol has set a new record of 49.24 after breaking her historic 49.26 run in 400m at the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on Sunday.

She achieved this feat ahead of the World Indoor Athletic Championships open in Glasgow. Track & Field Gazette shared a video of Bol setting the new world record, clocking 49.24 seconds. It said

"Femke Bol has just broken her own World Record in the women's 400m at the Dutch Indoor Championships with a stunning 49.24 s!!"

The Dutch athlete's previous record was 49.26s, which shattered a 40-year-old mark of 49.59 set by a Czechoslovak athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1982. In a trackside interview, Bol said that running another world record was a dream coming true.

"It's wonderful to have all these Dutch fans enjoying the most beautiful sport in the world. (World Athletics)

The latest record reflects Bol's prowess on the track. The 23-year-old set a record under 50 seconds indoors for the sixth time in her career.

World Athletics also shared her achievements on X (formerly Twitter) saying that

"Femke Bol does it again."

"Longer Strides": Femke Bol has a cruising way of running the first 200m

Bol's coach Laurent Meuwly told Athletics Weekly in an interview in 2023 that the young athlete was better physically but couldn't improve her time. She said they realized that they were at the end of this concept with the 15 steps.

Femke Bol ran at the Meeting Metz Moselle Athelor earlier this month.

The 15-step concept is a stride pattern, which Bol takes between each barrier. Meuwly said the Olympic athletes had become accustomed to it, and they had to come up with a new plan. She pointed out:

"Progressively we pushed her stride a bit more and changed to having a more cruising way of running the first 200m, with longer strides. It's about a 12cm difference in stride length."

Meuwly said it was different for Bol.

"And then to change after seven hurdles to go to 15 - that was something completely different to what she has been used to. But, very quickly, she realized in training that this was the direction to go in." (Athletics Weekly)

With this, Bol clocked 49.69 in the 400m at the Meeting Metz Moselle Athelor (WIT Silver) earlier this month. This achievement also marked the Dutch's sixth-fastest time indoors, including the fastest season opener in history.