The athletics world has a new super talent. The Namibian Christine Mboma provided a particularly fine performance in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She won the race by force majeure and also set the 7th fastest time ever in the 400 meters.
The Namibian sprint bomb was not a big name in the athletics world before the start of this season. In April she already broke the world record in the juniors (49″22) and this time she did it again with 48″54.
In Poland’s Bydgoszcz she made mincemeat of the competition. Polish European Champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic came in over 3 seconds later.
With by far the best performance of this year, she is also the big favorite to win gold at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. American Allyson Felix is also among the contenders, but never came close to Mboma’s time.
In the past, of the active runners, only Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Salwa Eid Nasr ran faster than Mboma. Miller-Uibo will focus on 200 meters in Tokyo and Eid Nasr is serving a doping suspension.
The all-time record was still set in 1985 by the German Marita Koch (47″60). The Czechoslovak Jarmila Kratochvilova and the French Marie-José Pérec also ran just a little faster in the past.