John Heymans has broken the Belgian indoor 3,000m running record, which had stood for 24 years.
The 27-year-old athlete achieved this feat on Saturday night in Boston, USA, clocking in at 7:37.05. This performance also secured his qualification for the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Apeldoorn from 6 to 9 March.
The previous record, set by Mohammed Mourhit in 2001, was 7:38.94. Mourhit had been suspended twice for doping offences in 2002 and 2004. Heymans’ personal best was 7:41.59 from last year, while the qualifying standard for the European Championships was 7:43.00.
In New York, Jochem Vermeulen ran a mile in 3:53.68, making him the second-fastest Belgian over this distance, behind Thomas Vanoppen who holds the Belgian record with 3:52.66. American Yared Nuguse won the race, setting a new world record with a time of 3:46.63, surpassing the previous mark of 3:47.01 held by Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha since 2019.
Helena Ponette completed her 400m race in New York with a personal best of 52.16. Although this time falls short of the European Championships qualifying standard by six hundredths of a second, Ponette has met the Belgian minimum. She must be in the top 30 European rankings, where she is currently 17th, by 23 February to compete in Apeldoorn.
