On the day that Britain’s Olympic champion was born almost 24 years ago, Keely Hodgkinson broke the women’s world indoor 800-meter record set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak. Ceplak set the record on March 3, 2002, with a time of 1:54.87, which Hodgkinson beat by 0.95 seconds at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin, France. Hodgkinson said, “Thank you for the amazing crowd.” “You could be heard everywhere.” Is the Briton off to a good start? started the season, finishing last weekend at the UK Indoor Championships in 1:56.33.
Early on, Hodgkinson dominated the race, finishing the 200-meter course in 26.47 seconds and the 400-meter course in 55.56 seconds. The 23-year-old was far ahead of the competition by the 600-meter mark, which he reached in 1:25.06. The Briton dominated the field to set the record, as Audrey Werro of Switzerland finished far behind in second place. Prior to winning gold at the 2024 Games in Paris, Hodgkinson won an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo in 2021.