Hodgkinson Shatters Indoor 800m Record
Keely Hodgkinson broke the women's indoor 800m world record in Birmingham yesterday, clocking 1:54.87 to surpass Slovenia's Jolanda Ceplak's 2002 mark of 1:55.82. The British middle-distance star's time is now the fastest ever recorded indoors for the 800m, clearing what many viewed as a tainted record due to doping concerns from the early 2000s. The record had stood since the day Hodgkinson was born in 2002.
- The record was set at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Liévin, France, where Polish pacemaker Anna Gryc led Hodgkinson through the first 400m in 55.58 seconds. Hodgkinson ran the final 200m in under 30 seconds to break the 1:55 barrier for the first time in history indoors. - The previous record holder, Jolanda Ceplak, later received a two-year doping suspension (2007-2009) after testing positive for the blood-booster EPO. - This is Hodgkinson's first senior world record; she also holds the world's best time for the indoor 600m, set in 2023. She is the first British woman to hold a world record in the 800m since Ann Packer in 1964. - The record-breaking run was foreshadowed just days earlier at the UK Indoor Championships, where Hodgkinson ran a world-leading time of 1:56.33 without the aid of pacemakers or wavelights. - Hodgkinson is the reigning Olympic 800m champion, having won gold at the 2024 Paris Games. She also earned a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, breaking Kelly Holmes's 26-year-old British record in the process. - Her new indoor record of 1:54.87 is just slightly off her outdoor personal best of 1:54.61, which stands as the current British record. - Next, Hodgkinson is targeting the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, followed by the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, where she will be aiming for a third consecutive 800m title.
