Keely Hodgkinson will attempt to claim her maiden world record this evening when she lines up for the 800 metres at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Lievin, France.
The 23-year-old Olympic gold medallist has Jolanda Ceplak’s indoor mark of 1:55.82 firmly in her sights, a time the Slovenian athlete established on 3 March 2002.
That date holds particular significance for the British runner, as it coincides with her birthday.
Hodgkinson has described the prospect of taking the record as feeling like destiny.
Following a 2025 season disrupted by injury problems, the Englishwoman arrives in exceptional form, having adopted a more relaxed approach to her training and competition schedule.
The British star places enormous value on maintaining equilibrium between her athletic career and personal life, insisting that her emotional wellbeing takes priority over everything else.
“I’m really big on balance. Balance is definitely my thing. My internal happiness comes before anything else,” Hodgkinson explained.
Keely Hodgkinson won gold in the 800m at Paris 2024 | PA
When her coach Trevor Painter gave her permission to attend Paris Fashion Week, where she spent time with reality television star Kim Kardashian, she seized the opportunity without hesitation.
“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,” she said.
The middle-distance runner believes contentment away from athletics directly translates to superior performances on the track, making her more enthusiastic about both training sessions and competitions.
Kim Kardashian and Keely Hodgkinson recently met each other in Paris
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Hodgkinson demonstrated her outstanding condition at last weekend’s UK Championships in Birmingham, where she lowered her own British indoor best to 1:56.33, elevating her to third on the all-time list.
Painter believes his athlete is virtually certain to break the world record, stating she is odds-on to achieve it “unless she gets ill or falls over”.
The performance in Birmingham came somewhat unexpectedly, with Hodgkinson revealing the session was primarily intended to work on her opening 200 metres.
“I don’t want to put a time limit on what I think I can do but I didn’t mean to go that fast, which shows I’m in a really good place,” she reflected.
Hodgkinson acknowledged she was not entirely surprised by her rapid time in Birmingham, recognising her capability to produce such performances.
Keely Hodgkinson won the Sports Personality of the Year award in 2024
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“I know I’m capable of things like that. So it’s just like, how fast can we really go? And hopefully we can find out,” she added.
The record she pursues belongs to Ceplak, who was subsequently convicted of a doping offence.
Elsewhere on tonight’s programme in Lievin, the women’s 1,500 metres features an intriguing British contest between UK Championships gold medallist Jemma Reekie and Georgia Hunter-Bell.
Hunter-Bell, who trains alongside Hodgkinson, was absent from the domestic championships after suffering a hamstring problem.
