Keely Hodgkinson in stunning 23-year first as Olympic champion smashes world record
Keely Hodgkinson smashed the world indoor 800m record with another dazzling display in France on Thursday.
The Olympic champion surpassed Jolanda Ceplak’s record by almost a second with victory at Lievin in 1min 54.87 seconds.
It came just days after her superb 800m run of 1:56.33 at the UK Indoor Championships heats.
Eyes on the prize
Hodgkinson bowed out of the final to focus on breaking Ceplak’s 24-year record.
“I’ve been very vocal about wanting to break it,” Hodgkinson said after her win in Birmingham last Saturday. “I feel like it’s my record to take.”
Thursday’s win was all the more fitting considering that Hodgkinson was born on March 3, 2002 – the same day the Slovenia runner clocked the previous record of 1:55.82.
The 23-year-old went all out on the final lap to achieve yet another incredible feat.
After clocking the record-breaking run, Hodgkinson said: “That was really fun.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a few weeks.
“But I had to thank the amazing crowd. I had lots of help in here.”
Hodgkinson becomes the first Brit to secure an official world record since Paula Radcliffe’s London Marathon heroics in 2003.
She came through 400m in 56.01 seconds, hitting the bell lap at 1:25.06 and in a strong position to eclipse the record, with her final 200m clocking at 29.81 seconds.
Hodgkinson has enjoyed an incredible rise to the top of women’s athletics in recent years.
Not content with Olympic gold and silver medals as well as silver and bronze medals at the World Championships, she now boasts the indoor world record.
It marks an impressive reaction to her 2025 season which fell below her exceptionally high expectations.
Injury hampered her build up to last summer’s World Championships in Tokyo which saw her take bronze behind fellow Brit Georgia Hunter Bell, who took silver.
Brushing shoulders with the stars
And it’s not just on the track that Hodgkinson has been enjoying her time.
The star recently attended Paris Fashion Week in between her athletics commitments, where she rubbed shoulders with American media personality Kim Kardashian .
Hodgkinson said: “I’m really big on balance. Balance is definitely my thing. My internal happiness comes before anything else.
“So when my coach said I could take a trip to Paris to meet Kim Kardashian, I wasn’t going to turn that down, and we had a great time. It was a lot of fun.
“The happier I am off the track, I bring that same energy to the track. I just am much better at training. I’m much better at racing.
“I look forward to things more. And I just think getting that balance is obviously really important.”
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