Bol smashes European record with 50.95 in La-Chaux-de-Fonds – European Athletics

Femke Bol shattered her European 400m hurdles record at the Resisprint meeting in La-Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland on Sunday (14) afternoon, becoming just the second athlete in history to break the 51 second-barrier.

Bol recorded the third fastest time in history with a 50.95 clocking to slash exactly half-a-second off her previous European record of 51.45 which she set in London last summer.

Only Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has ever run faster with her world record performances of 50.68 and 50.65 respectively. The pair are set to cross paths for the first time in over two years at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next month.

Ahead of the Olympic Games, Bol will return to the British capital for the London Diamond League – the venue of her European record last year – next Saturday which will be her last 400m hurdles race before Paris 2024 where she will endeavour to improve on her bronze medal from Tokyo, the first senior medal of her career.

Bol, who was crowned 2022 and 2023 women’s European Athlete of the Year, now holds three of the 10 fastest times in 400m hurdles history and an incredible 13 of the 15 fastest times in Europe in history.

Astonishingly, Bol’s winning time of 50.95 also equals the Olympic qualifying standard for the 400m flat.

More to follow…

Source: European Athletics