Dutch sprinter Femke Bol (© Getty Images)
World 400m hurdles silver medallist Femke Bol sped to double Dutch records at the Meeting Metz Moselle Athlelor – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting – on Saturday (11), clocking 49.96 for 400m and 22.87 for 200m.
Bol, who opened her season in Boston last weekend with a world indoor best over 500m, was contesting her first 400m and 200m of 2023, but looked as sharp as ever. She powered through the first lap of the 400m in 23.93, striding out strong and controlled. She continued to pull away from the rest of the field and maintained her speed well on the second lap, charging through the finish line in 49.96.
The multiple European champion now moves to fourth on the world indoor all-time list with the sixth-fastest performance in history.
She barely had time to celebrate, though, as she returned to the track just 85 minutes later for the 200m. Compatriot and training partner Lieke Klaver had won the ‘B’ race just moments before in 22.97, but that didn’t last long as a Dutch record.
Bol blasted around another lap of the track in an outright PB of 22.87, not only breaking the Dutch record, but also improving the meeting record. European bronze medallist Anna Kielbasinska finished runner-up in 23.17, having earlier clocked 51.49 over 400m.
World indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh also produced a world-leading mark in Metz.
The Ukrainian high jumper won with 2.02m, a two-centimetre improvement on her own world-leading mark, and then went on to have three attempts at a would-be lifetime best of 2.07m, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful.
Uganda’s 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi rebounded from her fifth-place finish in Torun three days ago to win the 800m in a season’s best of 1:59.18.
Elsewhere, other notable performances came from France’s Yann Schrub, who won the men’s 3000m in 7:40.54, and Belgium’s Alexander Doom, who won the men’s 400m in 46.06, just ahead of Switzerland’s Lionel Spitz (46.14).
Bromell blazes to 6.42 in Clemson
World bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell scorched to a lifetime best of 6.42 to win the 60m at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson on Friday (10).
Bromell, the 2016 world indoor champion, was a comfortable winner of his heat in 6.54, then he won the semifinals in 6.46, taking 0.01 off the PB he set when winning the world indoor title seven years ago.
But he went faster still in the final, stopping the clock at 6.42 to move to sixth on the world indoor all-time list. Marcellus Moore was second in 6.56.
Cameron Crump, who before this competition had never jumped farther than eight metres, won the men’s long jump with a huge PB of 8.21m. He set an indoor PB of 7.96m in round two, backed it up with 7.92m in round four and then sailed out to his winning mark in round five. He ended his series with an 8.09m leap.
NCAA champion Lamara Distin improved on her own Jamaican indoor record to win the women’s high jump with 1.97m.
Seven men bettered 46 seconds in the 400m, with the three fastest times – each from separate heats – separated by just 0.04. Elija Godwin posted the fastest time with 45.63, just ahead of Auhmad Robinson (45.65) and Emmanuel Bynum (45.67).
The men’s 60m hurdles was even closer with Giano Roberts winning in a photo finish from Cameron Murray, both timed at 7.62. But two-time British champion Tade Ojora was quicker in the semifinals, clocking a PB of 7.53.
Rhasidat Adeleke won the women’s 200m in 22.68, just outside her PB, while Cameron Miller was a similarly convincing winner of the men’s event in 20.33.
Joella Lloyd won the women’s 60m final in 7.17 from Jacious Sears (7.22), but Sears had earlier sped to a PB of 7.12 in the rounds.
