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.”
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.
