Keeley Hodgkinson has broken the long-standing women’s indoor 800m world record, set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceprak on the Briton’s birthday some 24 years ago.

Olympic champion Hodgkinson finished in Lieven, France, in a time of 1 minute, 54.87 seconds, beating Cheprak’s time of 1 minute, 55.82 seconds, which he had held since March 3, 2002, by almost a second.

“Thank God, it was so much fun. I was really looking forward to it,” Hodgkinson told the crowd, before taking his place on a throne at the side of the track wearing a gold crown.

The 23-year-old broke the rarely contested 600m record during the last indoor season three years ago, making her, along with triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, the only British athletes to hold a current world record in the sport’s championship event.

Hodgkinson was poised to chase the indoor 800m record at his eponymous Keeley Classic in February last year, but his ambitions were derailed by the first of two serious hamstring injuries that season.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s event, Hodgkinson said after breaking his national record by almost a second at Saturday’s British Indoor Championships, Libin is not just aiming for a world record, but “seeing how fast he can actually run”.

Ethiopian Olympic silver medalist Tsige Duguma and Switzerland’s Audrey Wello joined her on the start line, while Poland’s Anna Grich, who replaced Hodgkinson as this year’s fastest female athlete, was tasked with setting a pace of 55.8 seconds at half-time.

Covering the first 400 meters ahead of schedule in 55.56 seconds, Hodgkinson strode through the front, never once in danger of letting go as green wave lights flashed around the inside of the course to indicate record times.