STOCKHOLM: Dutch athletics prodigy Femke Bol ran the fourth fastest women's 400m hurdles of all time as she won at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting on Sunday in 52.37 seconds. The 21-year-old Bol was pushed all the way by American Shamier Little, who finished second in 52.39, the fifth best of all time.

Bol beat the personal best of 53.33 she set on Thursday in Oslo by almost a second. The European indoor champion in the flat 400m this winter narrowly failed to break Yuliya Pechonkina's 2003 European record of 52.34. The Russian's time was the world record until 2019 when American Dalilah Muhammad broke it. That time was bettered by compatriot Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 51.90 in Eugene, Oregon, on June 27.

The Olympic women's 400m hurdles competition in Tokyo begins on July 31. Norwegian Karsten Warholm set a new men's world record of 46.70 on Thursday in Oslo.