Coscoran Sets New Irish Indoor 1500m Record, Hodgkinson Breaks 800m World Record in Lievin

Andrew Coscoran shattered his own Irish indoor 1500m record at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France, on Thursday night, finishing in a time of 3:33.09.^[3] The performance came at a World Indoor Tour Gold event, where he secured third place behind Italy’s Federico Riva and world champion Isaac Nader of Portugal, who won with a time of 3:32.44.^[3]

Coscoran’s Record-Breaking Run

Coscoran’s previous personal best indoors was set during last year’s Wannamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York, where he passed through the 1500m mark in 3:33.40.^[3] The 29-year-old athlete is preparing for both the 1500m and 3000m events at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships in Dublin, scheduled for February 28th and March 1st, as well as the upcoming World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland.^[3]

Mawdsley and McCann As well Compete

Sharlene Mawdsley also competed at the Liévin meet, clocking a time of 51.85 in the women’s 400m to finish third. This time is the fastest recorded by an Irishwoman this year and meets the Athletics Ireland ‘B’ Standard for the World Indoor Championships.^[3] Paris Olympian Luke McCann finished sixth in the men’s B 1500m race, achieving a season’s best time of 3:39.89 as he continues his recovery from a long-term injury.^[3]

Hodgkinson Smashes World Record

In a remarkable performance, Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson broke the women’s world indoor 800m record, clocking a time of 1:54.87.^[3] This surpassed the previous record of 1:55.82, set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak on March 3, 2002.^[3] Hodgkinson demonstrated dominance throughout the race, passing 200m in 26.47 seconds and 400m in 55.56 seconds, and maintaining a significant lead by the 600m mark (1:25.06).^[3] Hodgkinson is a previous Olympic silver medalist (Tokyo 2021) and gold medalist (Paris 2024).^[3]

Additional reporting: Reuters