Kelly Hodgkinson breaks the world record in the indoor 800 metres

Kelly Hodgkinson has smashed the long-standing world record for the women’s indoor 800m, set by Slovenian Jolanda Seplak on the day the Briton was born almost 24 years ago.

Olympic champion Hodgkinson crossed the finish line in one minute and 54.87 seconds in Levin, France, nearly one second behind Seaplak’s time of 1:55.82, which has run since March 3, 2002.

“Thank God. It was really fun, I was really looking forward to it,” Hodgkinson told the fans before she was adorned with a golden crown and sat on a throne next to the track.

The 23-year-old, who broke the rare 600m record during her previous indoor season three years ago, joins triple jumper Jonathan Edwards as the only British athlete to hold the current world record at one of the sport’s championships.

Hodgkinson was poised to break the 800m indoor record at her namesake Kelly Classic event in February last year, before her ambitions were ruined by her first serious hamstring injury of the season.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s event, Hodgkinson said Levine is not just about the world record “but seeing how fast we can really go”, after she smashed her own national record by nearly one second at the UK Indoor Championships on Saturday.

Joining the starting line were Ethiopian Olympic silver medalist Tessig Dogoma, Swiss Audrey Wero, who was replaced by Hodgkinson as the fastest woman this year, and Poland’s Anna Grec was tasked with recording a time of 55.8 seconds at the halfway point.

Ahead of schedule after 55.56 seconds in the first 400 metres, Hodgkinson shot from the front and never appeared in danger of losing contact with the green flashing lights that mark the record time inside the track.