Dutch runner Femke Bol rewrote her own world record in the indoor 400 metres on Saturday, while Britain’s Josh Kerr steamrolled to victory in the men’s 3,000 to the delight of the home crowd at the world indoor athletics championships.
The 24-year-old 400 hurdles specialist made it look effortless, leading from the gun to clock 49.17 seconds and beat the previous mark of 49.24 she set two weeks ago at the Dutch national championships.
“It was such a strong race, I knew I had to go out fast. My coach said to me ‘You can run faster’, but to be honest I just wanted to win,” said Bol, gold medallist in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay at the outdoor world championships last year in Budapest.
“This is great because I’ve not done hurdles for four weeks and it gives me confidence. (But) I am missing the hurdles,” she added. “It is just great to race and this competition and the atmosphere has been amazing.”
Alexander Doom of Belgium overtook Norway’s Karsten Warholm, a triple world champion in the 400 hurdles, over the final few metres to win the men’s 400 in 45.25. Warholm crossed in 45.34 for silver.
Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia ran 6.98 — quickest in the world this season — to win the women’s 60, edging Ewa Swoboda of Poland by two-hundreds of a second.
The 26-year-old Kerr, who raced in rose-coloured glasses, clocked 7:42.98 seconds, surging past Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega with 100 metres to go in another world-beating achievement amid a remarkable few months.
American Yared Nuguse took silver in 7:43.59 while Barega faded to third.
Kerr, who won the world outdoor 1,500 title in Budapest last year and three weeks ago broke Mo Farah’s indoor two miles world record in New York, high-fived fans sitting trackside during an exuberant victory lap.
“I think I burned more energy celebrating than I did in the race,” said Kerr, who chose to race the 3,000 over the 1,500 to work on his strength.
“These competitions are so important. I’ve come to championships before not ready to take a real swing at it and I feel like I let the UK audience down a little bit in the way that I’ve performed.
“So this was really important for me to come here, ready to go and really execute.”
British team mate Molly Caudery cleared 4.80 metres to win the women’s pole vault, edging New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney whose best mark was also 4.80 but with more foul jumps.
“I dreamed of (winning), I wasn’t sure if it would come true or not,” Caudery said. “There was six girls over 4.80 coming into (the competition), so I knew it was going to be a fight.”
With three vaulters remaining and a guaranteed medal, “that kind of made me believe myself,” Caudery said.
“And those last few jumps that Eliza was taking I was so on edge, and then she didn’t clear — and me and Eliza get on really well, but obviously I can’t help but be a bit happy.”
Caudery’s gold was a first global medal for the 23-year-old who nearly severed a finger lifting weights in 2021 and required three surgeries to re-attach the digit, and then was sidelined for nine months after two Achilles tendon surgeries.
The pole vault competition was paused briefly after Margot Chevrier of France suffered a broken ankle.
American Grant Holloway added another world title to his glittering resume in winning the men’s 60 hurdles in 7.31 seconds, just shy of the world record 7.29 he ran two weeks ago.
“I had good fun out here and achieved what I wanted to,” said Holloway, who has won 76 consecutive races, including qualifying rounds, and owns three world and now two world indoor gold medals. “It wasn’t a record but that’s OK. It was my fifth world title so I’m happy to keep racking them up.”
American Elle St. Pierre sprinted past multi-world champion Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia with 50 metres remaining to win the women’s 3,000m in 8:20.87. Tsegay, the reigning world outdoor champion in the 10,000, crossed in 8:21.13 for silver.
