MIGHT THE LONGEST-STANDING World Record in track & field be due to take a tumble this summer?
Seven American presidents (over 12 terms) have sat in the White House since Jarmila Kratochvílová ran 1:53.28 in Munich back on July 26, 1983. The closest anyone has come to the mark in the 21st century was when Pamela Jelimo of Kenya ran 1:54.01 at the 2008 Weltklasse meeting in Zürich.
However, Keely Hodgkinson has given notice this winter. The Czech runner’s infamous mark — which many over the years have viewed as being drug-fueled although Kratochvílová has always strenuously denied such accusations — could be living on borrowed time. Wrap your head around that thought.
Hodgkinson, for one, has pondered the possibility after navigating a post-Paris Olympics rough patch in her training and racing. The Briton, who turned 24 on March 3, won gold at that ’24 Games to follow up on continental successes at the ‘22 and ‘24 Europeans.
But then an ill-timed hamstring tear in May 2025, preceded by similar problems shortly after her Olympic triumph, left her playing catch up ahead of the World Championships last fall — not withstanding her one-off 1:54.74 at the summer’s Chorzów DL. In Tokyo she eventually had to settle for bronze over two laps of the track behind Kenya’s inspired Lilian Odira and Hodgkinson’s friend and training partner Georgia Hunter Bell.
This winter though, all of Hodgkinson’s injury problems have become a thing of the past.
She took almost a second off the indoor 800 World Record with 1:54.87 in Liévin, France, on February 19 and then produced a gun-to-tape effort to take World Indoor gold in 1:55.30, removing 1.6 seconds from the 27-year-old meet record with the No. 2 all-time indoor mark.
“It feels so, so nice being able to run and win. This is my first world title,” said Hodgkinson, remembering the fact that she took silver at the ‘22 and ‘23 WCs as well as bronze in Tokyo.
“I am incredibly happy with how this weekend has gone. It’s everything I could have imagined, this whole indoor season.
“I took it week by week, and life is so exciting right now, I am enjoying all the twists and turns, the good times, and the lows that come with it.”
She added: “I wanted to let loose, and make everyone work, work hard [in the Toruń final]. And, who knows, maybe on another day, without two races in my legs, I would have had the World Record again.
“I was just happy to be healthy and to finish, and finally able to come into a championships as the favorite and actually finish on top.
“I haven’t done that since Paris, so I’m really proud of myself.”
Propelling Hodgkinson forward was also the fact that she came onto the track knowing that compatriots Hunter Bell and Molly Caudery had won the 1500 and pole vault titles while she was in the call room.
“To have three golds in less than half an hour [28 minutes to be exact] is amazing, especially for the women. We all absolutely smashed it.
“I didn’t watch Georgia’s race because I was locked in. And then I didn’t see Molly the whole time.
“When I walked out and she [Caudery] was doing a lap of honor, I was like, ‘Oh my god, the pressure’s on. I’ve got to get that third gold.’”
A measure of the quality of Hodgkinson’s run could be seen by the yawning gap back to silver medalist Audrey Werro, who still took 0.63 off her own Swiss NR of 1:56.64 in 2nd place. USATF Indoor winner Addy Wiley was still more than 20m down the track as Hodgkinson crossed the line before getting the bronze in 1:58.36, her second PR on consecutive days in Toruń.
“I have an amazing training group. Myself and Georgia work hard and we push each other at every practice. We are both in the shape of our lives. It’s great to have someone who can challenge me in training. I am really grateful for our friendship, our rivalry and our training,” said Hodgkinson, before looking ahead.
“I am so excited to build on this. My word for this year was ‘domination’, I want global domination and this is a great way to start.
“We have a very exciting summer with the European Championships [which will be on home soil in Birmingham, August 10–16 August] and everything else.
“I have said for the last couple of years that breaking the World Record is possible and I wouldn’t have said that if I didn’t have evidence in training, or seen things where I’m like, ‘Yeah, I can do it.’
“But a lot has to come together for that to happen and there is no timeframe about when or where or whatever.”
Currently Hodgkinson is sixth on the all-time list with her 1:54.61 run at the ‘24 London DL meeting.
“I have worked so hard this winter and most importantly I have had uninterrupted training,” she says.
“I have managed to do everything, and I think that has shown in my performance and confidence on the track.
“It is very rare when you get a spell as an athlete where you don’t have any problems, where there are no niggles in the back of your head. I can go into races and focus completely on the job in hand. You have to take advantage of moments like that and that’s what we’ve done. I am a very happy girl.”
Inevitably, after Hodgkinson’s Toruń triumph, the massed ranks of the media, especially from Britain, sought out her coach Trevor Painter for an insight into how Hodgkinson has had such a jaw-dropping 6 weeks.
“It’s the first time since Budapest in 2023 where she’s turned up to a championship 100% healthy,” reflected her long-time mentor.
“Even at the Paris Olympics she had a bit of a niggle and missed some of the winter. But this year she’s not missed a session so we’re seeing times she normally does in summer already,” Painter told the British newspaper The Guardian.
Painter, along with his wife and fellow coach Jenny Meadows, the latter a European Indoor 800 winner in 2011, credit the addition of physiologist Rachel McCormick at the end of last summer, along with physiotherapist Alison Rose, with keeping Hodgkinson injury-free in the last 7 months.
Over the winter Hodgkinson has also started cycling — often an hour or more — on her easy endurance days.
“We have to have speedwork, lactate work, threshold work and then long slow volume, so we do as much of the long slow stuff [as possible] on bikes, in swimming pools, on cross trainers, or ellipticals,” added Painter.
In addition to the cycling, Hodgkinson has also added more gym work to her program, building muscle mass which has added 10% to her body weight, taking it from 120lbs (55kg) in Paris up to 132lbs (60kg) in Toruń.
For comparison, Hodgkinson at 5-7 is only a half-inch shorter than Kratochvílová but is currently 15–18lbs lighter than the Czech runner weighed in 1983 when she also took the 400 and 800 golds at the inaugural World Championships.
At those World Championships in Helsinki almost 43 years ago, Kratochvílová also ran what was then a 400 WR in 47.99.
Hodgkinson has yet to break 51 seconds in a 400 race but her speed over the shorter distance has also improved this winter. She PRed with 51.49 in Glasgow, her best under any conditions, before uncorking a sensational 50.10 anchor leg on the 4×4 in Toruń, the second fastest split in World Indoor history.
Now Hodgkinson appears to be speeding towards a date with destiny this summer and having a serious tilt at adding the outdoor WR to her portfolio of superlatives and titles. □
