By Alex Leichenger

Track and field hurdles coach Felix Sanchez set two world records in the indoor 400 meter hurdles in a span of one week last month.

Competing in Bourdeaux, France on Jan. 24, he ran the event in 50.93 seconds, breaking the previous record of 52.04 seconds. Sanchez then dropped his time to 50.31 Jan. 30 in Caen, France. He will compete in the event once more before returning to the school team.

Sanchez, 32, who represents the Dominican Republic in international competitions, won a gold medal in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

He was the flag-bearer for the Dominican Republic in the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Sanchez is relatively new to the indoor event, which is run on a 200 meter track as opposed to a 400 meter track and has eight hurdles as opposed to ten, according to the Harvard-Westlake Athletics website.

“In a stadium that small the athletes are so close to the fans, which makes the race really electric,” Sanchez said to a French newstation.