Keeley Hodgkinson set a new indoor 800m world record of 1:54.87 in Livin, France, breaking the nearly 24-year-old standard set on the day she was born.
Hodgkinson, who won gold in the 800 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics, shaved almost a second off Yolanda Cheplak’s previous best of 1:55.82 at the European Championships in Vienna on March 3, 2002.
The 23-year-old was mainly relieved to stand by what she said earlier in the week when she confidently told a press conference that the records were hers.
Keeley Hodgkinson poses with the Tiffany crown she received for winning the 800m at Athros in New York.
“Oh, that saved me!” the Olympic champion declared in a trackside interview at World Athletics.
“No, it was really fun. I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks, so thank you to the amazing crowd.
“I wasn’t running alone, I had a lot of help here.”
Keeley Hodgkinson just broke her national record at last weekend’s British Indoor Championships
Hodgkinson opened the season at the British Indoor Championships with a time of 1:56.33 without a pacemaker or wave lights to rank third on the all-time list, before shifting his focus to France on Thursday night.
Trackside at the event in Birmingham, the Atherton athlete reflected that he had “accidentally run really fast” without any help.
Thursday night’s feat was no lucky coincidence. With all the tools in place at Leavin, the Wavelight was set at 55.8 seconds at the halfway point and 1:53.80 overall.
Hodgkinson trailed designated pacemaker Anna Grich of Poland in 26.47 seconds for the 200 meters and 55.56 seconds for the 400 meters, recording a lone strikeout at the three-quarter mark with a time of 1:25.06.
Hodgkinson was named Sports Personality of the Year in 2024.
She clapped her hands after crossing the line and received congratulations from her fellow competitors, then spread out like a starfish on the track, receiving plenty of enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
Hodgkinson was also congratulated by her coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, as well as training partner Georgia Hunter-Bell, an Olympic 1,500m bronze medalist and world silver medalist who clinched her victory earlier in the evening.
The new world record holder, still full of energy, made a beeline for her family and took a selfie to cement the monument in her memory.
