Sawt Falasteen - Record-setter Hodgkinson hopes 'fourth time lucky' at world indoors

Untimely injuries have prevented the 24-year-old from taking part in the past three editions of the world indoors.

But the Briton, who earned Tokyo Olympic silver and Paris Olympic gold and who has two world outdoor silver medals and a bronze, now appears to be in perfect shape.

Hodgkinson smashed the indoor 800m world record by almost a second last month and said Thursday she would have been "quite happy" had the outdoor season already kicked off.

That would raise the mouth-watering possibility of her going after the oldest world record in athletics -- the 1min 53.28sec for the outdoor 800m set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia in 1983.

There was no such talk of that in Torun, but Hodgkinson seemed in confident mood.

"I did think it was very much possible," she said of her indoor world record.

"When I started my preparations for this indoor season, I didn't really actually set any goals or anything.

"I just wanted to enjoy the process of getting fit and seeing how far we could go in training. And the closer we got to the day, I was like, 'Yeah, this is on, I can do this'."

- 'Chill time' -

Months on the sidelines in rehab for knee and hamstring injuries had allowed Hodgkinson to learn a lot about herself, she said.

"I had time off the track to just enjoy my life and just have some chill time, and I think it's made me a better athlete.

"It made competing for me that much more fun and exciting. So yeah, frustrating at the time, but I wouldn't change anything."

Turning to the world indoor title, Hodgkinson said: "It's the one medal I don't have. So that would be really great to box that one off.

"Until I've crossed the finish line, I'm not going to jinx anything. But yeah, I'm excited to be here, excited to compete.

"Fast times are obviously really great, but championships are just completely different, and having three rounds in three days is another thing. That's really tough. I've done it before, but I'd quite like to have a day off!

"Competition looks great, and we'll see what happens."

Hodgkinson added that she was "very happy with where I am".

"I'm looking forward to it, and this last month, it's been great. I couldn't ask to be in a better position, to be honest."

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST