Olympic icon Keely Hodgkinson has reacted to breaking the 800m indoor world record
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has showcased her new outlook after smashing the indoor 800m world record. The 23-year-old posted a stunning time of one minute 54.87 seconds in Lievin on Thursday, breaking the previous record by nearly a second.
Jolanda Ceplak’s time of one minute 55.82 seconds had been set on 3 March 2002, the same day Hodgkinson was born. Shattering the indoor world record had long been a burning ambition for Hodgkinson.
She was hampered by injury for long stretches of last year following her Olympic triumph in 2024. However, her attention will now turn to the outright 800m world record of one minute 53.28 seconds, which has been held by Jarmila Kratochvilova since 1983.
Speaking to the crowd after her record-breaking performance, Hodgkinson said: “Thank God! That was really fun. I was really looking forward to this.” She was subsequently presented with a golden crown and sat upon a throne at the side of the track.
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Discussing her ambitions for the remainder of the year, Hodgkinson recently told The Inside Lane: “I feel like this season is going to be a delayed but never denied type moment. I’ve had my healthiest winter in years. I’m really happy about that and I’m just grateful to be able to move my body, push it, not have anything hold me back and just do what I do best, run.
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“I think my aim for this year is just to see the boundaries that we can push. I think, I’ve said in the past couple of years, 1:53 is possible. I really think it is.
“I think this would be a good year to try, as long as I stay healthy, get everything done and give it a good shot. I’ve been knocking on that 1:54 for a while, I think I’m due a 1:53.”
Yet the Team GB athlete’s drive to reach her targets has shifted considerably in recent years. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Hodgkinson had her sights set on a Porsche if she won Olympic gold.
“I want a new car,” she said on the High Performance Podcast. “If I get the gold, it’s a nice payday and I’ll buy myself a new car. I want a Porsche, the low down sports one, it’s a really nice beige colour. It’s just hot.”
Last year, the Olympic champion revealed she’d had a change of heart about purchasing the luxury vehicle after taking it for a test drive. Instead, Hodgkinson has embraced her comeback and is driven by her passion for competition rather than big purchases.
“What have I used for motivation this year? To be honest, last year, I enjoyed competing so much, that feeling of being in the best shape of your life, being able to put on a performance and win races,” Hodgkinson said on her return to the High Performance Podcast in October. “Just being able to do what you worked so hard for, that was literally all my motivation this year.”
Despite her injury troubles last year, Hodgkinson opened up about the valuable lessons she picked up while sidelined. The 800m Olympic champion revealed that her enforced break from the sport had given her a fresh perspective.
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“A good thing when you get injured is you have so much more time,” Hodgkinson said. “I have not travelled as much, I spent between April and July at home, which I never get to do. With that time, I got to see my family more, I got to see my friends more, I just wanted to enjoy life.”
She added: “Maybe that’s another way that I’m a different person now, I don’t look at those things as goals that I want. It’s more just, I want to enjoy every little thing that comes my way, and just have a good time with that and surround myself with great people and experience good things.”