Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson set a new world 800m indoor record time of one minute 54.87 seconds in Lievin, beating the near 24-year-old standard set on the day she was born.
Hodgkinson, who stormed to 800m gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, shaved nearly a second off the previous best, 1min 55.82secs, achieved by Jolanda Ceplak at the European Championships in Vienna on March 3, 2002.
The 23-year-old was primarily relieved she had backed up her words from earlier in the week, in which she had confidently told a press conference the record was hers to take.
Simply incredible 🔥 pic.twitter.com/j2TC3NbxLx
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) February 19, 2026
“Thank God!” she declared in a trackside interview with World Athletics.
“No, that was really fun. I’ve been really looking forward to this for a good few weeks, so thank you for the amazing crowd.
“I wasn’t running alone, I had lots of help over here.”
Hodgkinson opened her season at the UK indoor championships, running 1:56.33 without pacemakers or wavelights to move third on the all–time list, before turning her focus to Thursday night in France.
Read MoreKeely Hodgkinson smashes world record with stunning run in Lievin