Lausanne, Dec 22 (IANS): The 4x1500m women's world record of 16:27.02 seconds set by the US quartet comprising Colleen Quigley, Elise Cranny, Karissa Schweizer, and Shelby Houlihan in Portland on July 31 has been ratified, World Athletics said on Tuesday.

The record was set in a low-key intra-squad competition on a high school track with few competitors and no spectators. With few competitive opportunities available to them during the main summer season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bowerman Track Club quartet took full advantage, averaging sub-4:07 legs to smash the previous record of 16:33.58 sec set by the Kenyan quartet of Mercy Cherono, Faith Kipyegon, Irene Jelegat and Hellen Obiri at the World Relays on May 25, 2014.

"I was really excited about the idea of maybe trying to go for the 4x1500m world record," said Houlihan, who anchored the quartet.

"We have an amazing group of women that can all run a fast 1500m so I felt like we might as well take advantage of that and of our lack of races during this pandemic. Setting this up just made sense and it gave us all something to look forward to."