Van Rhijn breaks 400m world record at Dutch Open

The Netherlands’ Marlou van Rhijn now holds world records in the 100m, 200m and 400m distances in the T43 class. 15 May 2013

Marlou van Rhijn won a gold and a silver medal in her Paralympic debut at the London 2012 Games.

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By IPC

She ran the distance in 1:04.95, and the time – pending IPC Athletics ratification – is nearly five seconds better than Shea Cowart’s previous best mark of 1:09.61, set in 2001.

Paralympic champion Marlou van Rhijn of the Netherlands set an unofficial world record in the 400m T43 on Sunday (12 May) at the Dutch Open in Emmeloord, the Netherlands.

She ran the distance in 1:04.95, and the time – pending IPC Athletics ratification – is nearly five seconds better than Shea Cowart’s previous best mark of 1:09.61, set in 2001.

Van Rhijn now holds the world records in the 100m, 200m and 400m, making her the one to beat in the T43 classification heading into July’s IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France.

In addition, Russia’s Vladimir Sviridov set a new unofficial world-best mark of 14.70m in the shot put F36.

Belgian’s wheelchair sprinter Marieke Vervoort broke two European records in the 100m and 400m T52 events.

Vervoort went under 19 seconds on the 100m (18.99), smashing her own European and Paralympic record (19.69) and approaching Canadian Michelle Stilwell’s world record of 18.67.

In the 400m, in terrible weather conditions, Vervoort finished in 1:11.53.

Canadian star Michelle Stilwell still parades with the world records in all three disciplines. At London 2012, Vervoort beat Stilwell across 100m, but Stilwell took gold in the 200m. The 400m was not included on the programme in London.