Sawt Falasteen - Hodgkinson sets women's 800m world indoor record

Hodgkinson shaved almost a second off the mark set by Slovenia's Jolanda Ceplak of 1 min 55.82 sec on March 3, 2002 -- the day of Hodgkinson's birth.

"Thank God. That was really fun, I was really looking forward to this," Hodgkinson told the crowd in the north of France.

Hodgkinson flew through the opening 400m in 55.56sec as she swiftly distanced herself from the competition.

On the final lap, she strode away to come in 0.95sec ahead of the near 24-year record.

On Saturday, the 23-year-old had clocked 1:56.33, without a pacemaker or the assistance of pace-setting lights at the edge of the track -- the third-fastest time in the history of the British Athletics Championships.

"I feel like it is my record to break," Hodgkinson said after that performance in Birmingham.

Before the British Championships, she had not competed indoors for nearly three years.

She had set her sights on breaking the record last winter but had to give up due to a knee injury.

She was then hampered by hamstring injuries at the start of the summer and had to settle for bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

J.Saleh--SF-PST