TORUN: Keely Hodgkinson won a first world indoor title on Sunday thanks to a commanding performance in the women’s 800m in Torun, Poland.
In a gun-to-tape performance, the 24-year-old world indoor record holder clocked a winning time of 1min 55.30sec in the four-lap race.
Her time was not only a championship record but also the second fastest time run over the distance indoors.
Switzerland’s Audrey Werro took silver in a national record of 1:56.64, with American Addison Wiley claiming bronze (1:58.36).Hodgkinson was then back on the track to anchor the British women’s team in the championship-ending 4x400m relay, but they could only finish fifth in a race won by the USA.
Hodgkinson set a new world indoor record over 800m last month and proceeded to clock the second fastest time ever run over the distance for a stunning individual victory — and a first global gold.
“I’m just happy and healthy to finish and, finally, to come into a championships as favourite and actually finish on top,” said Hodgkinson, who clocked a blistering 1min 55.30sec for the win.
She was welcomed at the line by training partner Hunter Bell, who had just won the 1,500m, and Caudery, winner of the women’s pole vault. The three golds came within the space of 28 minutes.
Hunter Bell had impressively reeled in Ethiopian front runner Birke Haylom at the bell to produce a crushing final lap in her race.
She clocked 3:58.53 for gold – her first global victory after world indoor bronze last year, an Olympic bronze in the 1,500m and world outdoor silver in the 800m.
Caudery, who previously won world indoor gold in Glasgow in 2024, was also not to be denied, clearing 4.85m to see off the challenge from Slovenia’s Tina Sutej.
It was some reward for an athlete who went out of the heats at the Paris Olympics and was unable to compete at last year’s world outdoors in Tokyo after sustaining an injury in the warm-up.
In a heedy night’s track and field, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas matched her own world record when she defended her 60m hurdles title in 7.65 seconds.
Spain’s Mariano Garcia won the men’s 1,500m crown, outsprinting Portugal’s world champion Isaac Nader for victory in 3:39.63.
Garcia became the first athlete in world indoor history to win titles at both the 800 and 1,500m, having won the former in Belgrade in 2022.
Cooper Lutkenhaus won the 800m this time around, the 17-year-old American prodigy clocking 1:44.24 for gold to confirm his status as an absolute track star in the making.
Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands claimed gold in the pentathlon with 4,888 points, 28 ahead of American Anna Hall, while Portugal’s Gerson Balde won the men’s long jump with a best of 8.46m and the US team won the men’s 4x400m relay.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2026