Hodgkinson, 18, takes two seconds off 2004 mark achieved by Ethiopia’s Legesse, runs 1:59.03 in Vienna to elevate to No. 4 all-time among British athletes behind Reekie, Meadows and Muir; Bol and Klaver both set Dutch indoor sprint records

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Athing Mu nearly set the World U-20 record in the 800 meters by running 2 minutes, 1.07 seconds in her Jan. 16 collegiate debut for Texas A&M at the Ted Nelson Invitational.

Mu, 18, now has a lot more ground to make up following Saturday’s performance by British athlete Keely Hodgkinson at the Indoor Track and Field Vienna Meeting in Austria.

Hodgkinson, 18, clocked the fastest global time this year of 1:59.03 to eclipse the 2004 World U-20 all-time indoor mark of 2:01.03 achieved by Ethiopia’s Meskerem Legesse at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.

Hodgkinson broke the European U-20 indoor record at last year’s event by running 2:01.16, which, at the time, was second only to Legesse among global performers.

Hodgkinson, who captured British indoor and outdoor 800 titles last year, now ranks No. 4 all-time indoors nationally behind Jemma Reekie (1:57.91), Jennifer Meadows (1:58.43) and Laura Muir (1:58.44).

Dutch athletes Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver both ran national indoor records, in addition to achieving the top two 400-meter marks in the world this year.

Bol, 20, ran 50.96 and Klaver clocked 51.48, both running faster than the 1998 indoor mark of 51.82 achieved by Ester Goossens.

Klaver, 22, added a 23.17 effort in the 200, taking down the 1988 national indoor record held by Els Vader, with Bol clocking 23.52.

Istvan Szogi eclipsed the Hungarian indoor 1,500-meter record with a world-leading 3:37.55.

Andreas Almgren set a Swedish indoor 3,000-meter record by running 7:41.60 in Sollentuna, taking more than six seconds off his previous-best effort at last year’s national indoor championships in Vaxjo.

Italian indoor high jump record holder Gianmarco Tamberi cleared a world-leading 7-7.25 (2.32m) on his third attempt in his season opener in Ancona, his best indoor mark since 2019.