Keely Hodgkinson targets long-standing 800m world record at London Diamond League

Keely Hodgkinson will bring a genuine world-record threat to London Stadium next month, with the reigning Olympic 800m champion saying she would love to break Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1:53.28 on home soil at the London Diamond League.

The target is not just fast, it is historic. Kratochvílová set the women’s 800m mark in Munich on July 26, 1983, and it remains the longest-standing individual world record in athletics. Any assault on it now carries the weight of more than three decades of changing training methods, race tactics and expectations, which is why Hodgkinson’s pursuit feels like a direct confrontation between modern athletics and one of track’s most enduring old standards.

Hodgkinson has already given London a preview of what she can do. At the same meeting in July 2024, she produced a British record and meeting record of 1:54.61, a run that moved her to sixth on the all-time list before she went on to win Olympic gold in Paris later that summer. That time still leaves her 1.33 seconds shy of Kratochvílová, but it is close enough to make a serious attempt thinkable rather than symbolic.

The case for a chase grew stronger indoors. Hodgkinson has since broken the indoor 800m world record and won world indoor gold, and she has said she feels closer than ever to the outdoor mark after what she described as her healthiest winter training in years. World Athletics has also listed her as the world No. 1 in the women’s 800m, adding to the sense that the event’s biggest prize is now within reach.

The London meeting on July 18 already has the shape of a record night. Organisers have highlighted Josh Kerr and Armand Duplantis among the headline names, raising the prospect of a battle of the world records if Kerr pushes for the mile mark and Duplantis continues his pole vault assault while Hodgkinson chases the 800m. For Hodgkinson, the ingredients will have to line up exactly: a fast enough race, the right pressure from the field and the kind of home-stadium surge that turns ambition into pace. If they do, the oldest major barrier in track could finally be tested in front of a British crowd that has already watched her turn London speed into Olympic gold.