Reigning European outdoor champion Jessica Schilder saved her best for last on the first day of the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn on Saturday (17) afternoon.
The Dutchwoman had already eclipsed her Dutch indoor record by one centimetre with 19.73m for victory in the fourth round of the shot put but the 24-year-old pulverised that mark by more than half-a-metre with the last throw of the final.
Her mark of 20.31m was a world lead and an outright Dutch record, supplanting her previous best of 20.24m from the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich where she won the title.
And Schilder must surely have aspirations of adding a continental indoor title to her last of accolades when Apeldoorn plays host to the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships next March.
But before then, Schilder will be in action on Tuesday afternoon at the Hvězdy v Nehvizdech in Nehvizdy which will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
Bol saunters to a 50.55 400m heat
Femke Bol barely drew breath to qualify for the 400m final but the two-time European Athlete of the Year still stopped the clock at 50.55 in her heat, a time which only Bol herself and training partner Lieke Klaver have bettered this year.
Klaver won her heat in a fast 51.31 and Cathelijn Peeters, another training partner and member of their gold medal-winning 4x400m team at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, was the third fastest qualifier for the final with a 52.01 lifetime best.
Everything points to another fast 400m final tomorrow afternoon in the very same arena where Bol demolished Jarmila Kratochvilova's long-standing world indoor record of 49.59 last year with 49.26.
There was also good depth in the men’s 400m heats with four athletes breaking the 47 second-barrier led by 2019 European indoor bronze medallist Tony Van Diepen with 46.71.
Two-time European indoor 60m hurdles champion Nadine Visser opted for the 60m and showed newfound sprinting speed by winning the title in a lifetime best of 7.19, smashing her previous best time of 7.22.
Menno Vloon also impressed with a 5.83m clearance to win the pole vault title.
Caudery clears 4.85m at the British Indoor Championships
Molly Caudery cleared a world lead and lifetime best of 4.85m to win the pole vault on the first day of the British Championships in Birmingham.
Caudery had a clear card up until 4.85m but the 23-year-old soared over this height on her third attempt to regain her world lead and revise her lifetime best having cleared 4.83m in Val-de-Reuil earlier this indoor season.
“It is amazing and almost overwhelming. I know I am in great shape, but it is still fantastic to execute on the day. You could hear a pin drop when I went for that last height. I have to trust my training and not do too much; just build that consistency.
“I need to re-evaluate my plans for the season as 4.80m was my target so I have already gone above and beyond so of course the British record will be amazing and probably my new target,” said Caudery who also moves to equal fifth on the European indoor all-time list.
Caudery will be in action next weekend at the Perche Elite Tour in Rouen on Saturday evening, an event which will be streamed live on the European Athletics Facebook channel.
Steven Mills for European Athletics