Femke Bol crushes world record, Josh Kerr thrills home crowd at world indoors
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GLASGOW – Dutch runner Femke Bol rewrote her own world record in the indoor 400 metres on March 2, while Scotland’s Josh Kerr steamrollered to victory in the men’s 3,000m to the delight of the home crowd at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The 24-year-old 400m hurdles specialist made it look effortless, leading from the gun to clock 49.17 seconds and beat the previous mark of 49.24sec she set at the Dutch national championships in February.
“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 2023 outdoor world championships 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 have been amazing.”
The 26-year-old Kerr, who raced in rose-coloured glasses, clocked 7min 42.98sec, surging past Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega with 100m 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 in 7:43.64.
Kerr, who won the world outdoor 1,500m title in Budapest in 2023 and broke Mo Farah’s indoor two-mile world record in New York in February, high-fived fans sitting track-side 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 3,000m over the 1,500m 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 British 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.”
Britain’s Josh Kerr celebrates after winning the men’s 3000m.
PHOTO: REUTERS
British teammate Molly Caudery cleared 4.80m to win the women’s pole vault, edging out New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney, whose best mark was also 4.80m but with more foul jumps.
“I dreamed of (winning), I wasn’t sure if it would come true or not,” Caudery said. “There were six girls over 4.80 coming into (the competition), so I knew it was going to be a fight.”
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 competition was paused briefly after Margot Chevrier of France suffered a broken ankle.
Alexander Doom of Belgium overtook Norway’s Karsten Warholm, a triple world champion in the 400m hurdles, over the final few metres to win the men’s 400m in 45.25sec. Warholm crossed in 45.34sec for silver.
Said Warholm: “All in all, it’s an acceptable time, so it’s OK. It was a last-minute decision to come here. Of course, I wish I had won today but it was so nice coming out here and performing in front of all that noise.”
Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia ran a season-leading time of 6.98sec to win the women’s 60m, edging out Ewa Swoboda of Poland by 0.02sec.
“Losing last season at the world championships and coming that close to a medal in both the 100m and the 200m gave me a boost,” said Alfred. “I was very hungry coming to the next season.”
Grant Holloway of the United States added another world title to his glittering resume in winning the men’s 60m hurdles in 7.29sec, just shy of the world record 7.27sec he ran in February.
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 10,000m, crossed in 8:21.13 for silver. REUTERS, AFP
