Everett Sets World Indoor Mark in 400

Danny Everett, formerly of UCLA, set a world indoor record of 45.04 seconds in the men’s 400 meters at an IAAF Grand Prix track and field meet Sunday.

Everett clipped one hundredth of a second from the mark of 45.05 set by Thomas Schonlebe of East Germany on Feb. 5, 1988.

“Deep down I felt I could break the world record,” said the 23-year-old who competes for the Santa Monica Track Club.

The 400-meter bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Everett also won a gold with the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team.

Everett raced against the clock from the start, with Mark Thomas of Britain a distant second at 47.64.

“It was fortunate that we stayed in our lanes until the end,” Everett said. “Merging lanes makes it much more difficult to concentrate on your running, you have to think about positioning yourself, pushing people.”