Keely Hodgkinson storms to first world title of her career with 800m indoor gold

Keely Hodgkinson stormed to the first world title of her career with 800m indoor gold on a glittering evening for Great Britain on the final day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland.

The Olympic 800m champion was the red-hot favourite, and ultimately made easy work of the final to set a new championship record of one minute, 55.30 seconds in the same Torun stadium where she secured her first senior title five years ago at the European Championships.

It capped off an astonishing hour for Great Britain after Hodgkinson’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell captured a maiden world title in the 1500 metres, moments before Molly Caudery struck gold in the women’s pole vault.

Last month, 24-year-old Hodgkinson broke the world indoor record at the same distance – set on the same day she was born – in Lievin, where she crossed the finish in one minute 54.87 seconds.

Hodgkinson pulled out in front early in Torun and never relinquished her lead, ultimately beating out Swiss silver medallist Audrey Werro by 1.34 seconds, and American Addison Wiley rounded out the podium.

Caudery finally exacted her long-awaited retribution as she reclaimed the world indoor pole vault title she first won in 2024.

The Cornish 26-year-old was the sole woman to clear 4.85m, beating Slovenia’s Tina Sutej, whose best effort was 4.80m.

Caudery was visibly elated throughout the competition as she set herself on the road to breaking what had felt like a curse that had hovered over her since winning gold in Glasgow.

She entered the Paris 2024 Olympics as one of the favourites, but suffered a shock exit in qualification for what effectively amounted to a tactical error.

Caudery initially hoped redemption would come at last summer’s World Championships in Tokyo, a trip that also ended in heartbreak after she rolled her ankle in the warm-ups, forcing her to withdraw.