Femke Bol broke a 40-year-old world indoor record in the women’s 400 metres on Sunday, covering the distance in 49.26 seconds.

Bol was running in front of a home crowd at the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

"When I crossed the line I knew that the record was mine, because of the noise that the crowd made,” Bol said.

The previous record of 49.59 was set by Jarmila Kratochvilova on March 7, 1982.

The 22-year-old Bol won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 400 hurdles. She also ran a world indoor 500-metre best of 1:05.63 in Boston in her first race of this season.

On Sunday, she got off to a strong start at the Omnisport arena and beat Lieke Klaver, who finished second in 50.34.

“It was because of all the fans here that I ran this record,” Bol said. “Never have I ever seen that many people here." (AP)