World short track record-holder Keely Hodgkinson won her first world title with a dominant display in the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26 on Sunday (22).

She won in style, too, crossing the line in a championship record of 1:55.30 – the second-fastest indoor performance in history behind her own world record of 1:54.87, set last month – and claimed Britain’s third gold medal within the space of 35 minutes.

The Olympic champion had impressed throughout the rounds, but nothing in athletics is guaranteed – especially in an indoor 800m championship final.

She did her best to stay out of trouble, taking an early lead through 200m in 27.26, then reaching 400m in 56.96. Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew, the silver medallist in Nanjing last year, tried to go with the Briton but ultimately paid the price.

Hodgkinson led through 600m (1:26.46), by which point Audrey Werro and Addison Wiley had almost caught up with Getachew. There was no catching the double world medallist, though, who powered around the final circuit to win in 1:55.30. Less than an hour later, Hodgkinson went on to run a 50.10 split in the 4x400m.

Werro finished second in 1:56.64, elevating the Swiss athlete to fifth on the world all-time list. Wiley took bronze in a PB of 1:58.36.

“There has been a lot going on in the last hour, everything seems a bit blurry to me,” said Hodgkinson, whose training partner Georgia Hunter Bell won the 1500m just moments prior. “This is my first world title. I have been in so many finals, I have been a favourite so many times and I had not won, so to do that and prove to myself that I can do it, remove the pressure and win the gold, it's nice.”

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

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