800 m (indoor), women

What to remember

Liévin, France, February 19, 2026: at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, Britain's Keely Hodgkinson ran the indoor 800 m in 1 min 54.87 s, an average of 25.07 km/h (15.58 mph).

Indoors the distance means four laps of a 200 m track, against two laps outdoors. The shortest of the common middle-distance events, derived from the British half mile, it calls for both endurance and real sprint speed. The 800 m has been on the Olympic programme since the first modern Games in 1896.

An 800 m specialist, Hodgkinson won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024 and the European title in 2022 and 2024. Before that gold she collected silver medals at the delayed Tokyo Olympics and at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. In that same 2026 season, after this record, she went on to become world indoor champion over 800 m.