Nafissatou Thiam stole the show at the European Indoor Championships on Friday with her record breaking performance.
The talented athlete who represents Belgium broke the world record in the women’s pentathlon with her score of 5055 points, while also earning the win in the event.
“Coming here, I felt very confident,” Thiam told World Athletics. “I have done a lot of good work and of course, the record was in my mind. But you need a good competition, to feel good and to perform well. It is good information for me that I managed to show this result despite the fact that not all events were perfect today. The long jump, high jump could have been better. So I can still build on this.”
Nataliya Dobrynska, the former record holder in the event, was not surprised by the historic result.
“I had a feeling my record would be broken,” she said via the European Athletics twitter account. That’s why I’m here. But two athletes! And it’s fine. I’m very happy because my record lasted for 11 years. The sport has moved on and fantastic athletes have made great results.”
Thiam has won three World indoor titles in the pentathlon, with her first championship coming in 2017. She’s also won two outdoor world titles in the event, with her most recent title coming last year in Oregon.
In addition to making her presence known at the World Championships, she’s been a force to be reckoned with at the Olympic Games. She took home the gold medal in the pentathlon at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
