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Keely Hodgkinson Takes Down 24-Year Indoor 800m World Record in Lievin

February 20, 2026
By
Anna F.

Keely Hodgkinson just rewrote indoor middle-distance history in Liévin, storming to a 1:54.87 women’s 800m world record and erasing a mark that had stood for nearly 24 years done with total control, effortless speed, and the unmistakable arrival of Keely 2.0.

​Keely Hodgkinson has broken the women’s indoor 800m world record, delivering a decisive performance in Lievin that ends a mark which had stood for nearly 24 years.

​The Olympic champion stopped the clock at 1:54.87, slicing almost a full second off the 1:55.82 set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak on 3 March 2002, the same day Hodgkinson was born.

A record that had outlived generations indoors was reduced to history in under two minutes.

Keely Hodgkinson (Credit: BBC)

​The race was controlled from the outset. Poland’s Anna Gryc ran 400m in 55.8 seconds, but Hodgkinson moved through halfway in 55.56, already ahead. From there she took ownership. There was no visible strain, only acceleration.

​Speaking afterwards, she said: “Thank God! That was really fun, I was really looking forward to this.”

​The 23-year-old had signalled her intent five days earlier by lowering her own British record in Birmingham. After a 2025 season was interrupted by two serious hamstring injuries, she has returned with uninterrupted winter preparation and visible physical progression, known within her training group as “Keely 2.0”.

​Hodgkinson now joins Jonathan Edwards as the only British athletes holding a current world record in a championship event.

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