Keely Hodgkinson chose “domination” as her word for 2026 and backed it up with a maiden world title as she stormed to 800m gold in a championship record time on a glittering evening for Great Britain at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland.
It capped an astonishing half an hour for Britain in Torun, where Hodgkinson’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell secured her own first global gold in the 1500m, moments before Molly Caudery reclaimed the pole vault title she won two years ago in Glasgow.
Following Josh Kerr’s 3,000m triumph on Saturday, it guaranteed GB’s most successful World Indoor Championships of all time, surpassing the three gold medals achieved in 1999.
Hodgkinson, who set a new world indoor 800m record last month, took gold in one minute 55.30 seconds and then returned to the track to run the anchor leg in the women’s 4x400m relay final – part of an experimental quartet which also featured surprise addition Dina Asher-Smith.
“I think my word this year has been domination,” Hodgkinson, who led the 800m final from the start, told the BBC after the fifth-place relay finish.
“I think when I’m in the shape of my life, why leave it to chance, you know? If you’re going to beat me, I’ll make you work hard for it.”
Hodgkinson beat Swiss silver medallist Audrey Werro in the 800m final by 1.34secs, while American Addison Wiley rounded out the podium.
It was a full-circle moment for the 24-year-old, who claimed her first senior title at the same venue at the 2021 European Indoors and has bounced back from an injury-plagued 2025 to start off her season with a bang.
Meanwhile, Caudery finally exacted her long-awaited retribution as she reclaimed the world indoor pole vault title she first won in 2024.
The Cornish 26-year-old was the sole woman to clear 4.85m, beating Slovenia’s Tina Sutej, whose best effort was 4.80m.
Caudery was visibly elated throughout the competition as she set herself on the road to breaking what had felt like a curse that had hovered over her since winning gold in Glasgow.
She entered the Paris 2024 Olympics as one of the favourites, but suffered a shock exit in qualification for what effectively amounted to a tactical error.
Caudery initially hoped redemption would come at last summer’s World Championships in Tokyo, a trip that also ended in heartbreak after she rolled her ankle in the warm-ups, forcing her to withdraw.
Olympic bronze medallist Hunter Bell continued her remarkable rise in the athletics world with a first gold medal on the global stage, reeling in Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom before bursting clear of her rivals on the final lap to win in 3:58.53.
The 32-year-old represented Great Britain for the first time at this very championship just two years ago but is now firmly established at the top of a sport she didn’t return to until 2022 after a five-year break.
Her fourth-placed finish at the 2024 World Indoors in Glasgow showed Hunter Bell she should focus on running full time once more and that decision looks increasingly justified.
She remained patient as Haylom opened up a significant lead in the early stages, gradually reducing the gap before launching her devastating attack on the final lap to claim a first global crown.
