Femke Bol (© Getty Images)
Femke Bol took half a second off her European 400m hurdles record with 50.95 at the Resisprint La Chaux-de-Fonds meeting in Switzerland to become just the second woman in history to break 51 seconds for the discipline.
It is the third-fastest performance of all time, behind only the 50.65 world record set by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at the US Olympic trials in Eugene last month and the former world record of 50.68 McLaughlin-Levrone clocked in Eugene in 2022.
Bol, the world champion and Olympic bronze medallist, set her previous best of 51.45 in London in July last year. She will go up against McLaughlin-Levrone in the race for Olympic gold at the Paris Games in August.
Finishing second behind the Dutch hurdles ace at the World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event in La Chaux-de-Fonds was Kemi Adekoya, who ran 53.41, while Jessie Knight won another race in 54.59.
Bol's compatriot Nadine Visser and Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska both set PBs in a close 100m hurdles final, Visser improving her Dutch record to 12.36 (1.6m/s) to set a meeting record and Skrzyszowska finishing just 0.01 off the Polish record with 12.37. Visser had earlier taken 0.04 off her own national record with 12.42 in the heats.
South Africa’s three-time world U20 medallist Benjamin Richardson ran a meeting record of 9.86 (1.9m/s) to win the 100m.
The 20-year-old, who claimed world U20 4x100m gold and 100m silver in 2021 before getting 100m bronze in 2022, dipped under 10 seconds for the first time, improving on his previous PB of 10.08 that he equalled in the heats to beat Ronnie Baker (9.95) and Ebrahima Camara (9.98).
Richardson returned to finish a close second in the 200m, breaking another barrier with his first sub-20.00 run as he clocked 19.99 (0.8m/s) to finish behind Ryan Zeze of France with 19.90.
Switzerland's 2022 world indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambundji equalled the meeting record with 10.90 (1.4m/s) – just 0.01 off her own national record – in the women’s 100m final. Her compatriot Salome Kora was second in 10.95, achieving her first sub-11.00 run. Jessica-Bianca Wessolly went quickest in the 200m races, clocking a PB of 22.50 (1.0m/s).
Another meeting record fell in the men's long jump as home star Simon Ehammer leapt 8.36m, just 9cm off his national record, in the final round.
Salwa Eid Naser ran a meeting record of 49.66 to win the 400m ahead of Henriette Jaeger, the 21-year-old taking almost a second off her PB with 49.85. Anthony Pesela won the men’s 400m in 44.99.
