Keely Hodgkinson has broken the long-standing women’s indoor 800m world record, set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak on the day the Briton was born almost 24 years ago.
Olympic champion Hodgkinson crossed the line in one minute 54.87 seconds in Lievin, France, taking almost one second off Ceplak’s time of 1:55.82 which had endured since 3 March 2002.
“Thank God! That was really fun, I was really looking forward to this,” Hodgkinson told the crowd, before being adorned with a golden crown as she took her place on a throne beside the track.
The 23-year-old, who broke the rarely contested 600m record during her previous indoor season three years ago, joins triple jumper Jonathan Edwards as the only British athlete to hold a current world record in one of the sport’s championship events.
Hodgkinson was primed to target the indoor 800m record at her eponymous Keely Klassic event in February last year, before her ambitions were ruined by the first of two serious hamstring injuries that season.
Speaking before Thursday’s event, Hodgkinson said that Lievin was not just about the world record “but seeing how fast we can really go”, after bettering her own national record by almost one second at the UK Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Joined on the start line by Ethiopia’s Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma and Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, who Hodgkinson replaced as the fastest woman this year, Poland’s Anna Gryc was tasked with setting a pace of 55.8 seconds through halfway.
Ahead of schedule after a 55.56-second first 400m, Hodgkinson strode off the front and never appeared in danger of losing touch with the green wavelights representing the record time on the inside of the track.
