In the scorching Spanish sun, Femke Bol turned up the heat even further as she stormed to a new championships record in the women’s 400m at the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division on Friday (27).
The Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division is being streamed live on the European Athletics website courtesy of the Eurovision Sport Platform.
Running from lane six, the Dutch superstar committed from the gun.
By 200 metres, she had made up the stagger on the current European 400m champion Natalia Bukowiecka, and she held her form down the home straight to run clear of the Pole to win in 49.48. It was just 0.04 down on her outdoors lifetime best when winning European gold at Munich 2022, but 0.34 bettter than her own championship record and a new European lead.
It was a repeat of the result from two years earlier where Bol also beat Bukowiecka to second place in Silesia 2023, but the Polish Olympic bronze medallist could also be satisfied with a good night’s work, grabbing a season’s best 50.14.
Madrid-based Paula Sevilla thrilled the home supporters, finishing strongly to grab third in a personal best of 50.70.
Reardon wins record-laden men's race
There was another championship best in the men’s race won by Olympic 4x400m relay bronze medallist Sam Reardon of Great Britain.
Much of the early running came from Greece’s George John Franks in lane eight and the Netherlands’ Jonas Phijffers. But as they entered the home straight both of them wilted in the sun and the pack swallowed them up. Reardon was the one who judged it best, running a perfectly paced race to win in 44.60, 0.10 off his lifetime best.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Pohorilko and Hungary’s Patrik Simon Enyingi both rose to the occasion, placing second and third in respective national records of 44.81 and 44.84, the latter equalling Attila Molnar’s record from the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships.