Having set a personal best of 1.54.61, the fastest time in the world for six years, in London three weeks ago, Hodgkinson was the heavy favourite.
She surged to the front and led the field and was able to pull away from the lead in the race to secure the long-awaited victory – the first British gold medal on the running side since Mo Farah won the 5,000m and 10,000m in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
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– It’s a great feeling of relief, joy and excitement, my voice soon won’t carry me anymore, says a happy Hodgkinson afterwards when the stadium has emptied of spectators.
Won half an hour ahead of Duplanti’s world record
The women’s 800 meters was shot off in 21.47 as the final event and then Armand Duplant held the stadium in an iron grip before setting his world record half an hour later.
– It is one of the biggest moments of my life and I tried to stay calm and keep my composure and still go for it. It’s absolutely crazy what a human body can do and I’m so happy that I managed to put all the pieces together, said Hodgkinson who shared the arena with Duplantis and his path to the gold and the world record.
Hodgkinson has four straight EC gold medals despite his young age – two outdoors and two indoors. Now she got to crown her career with the biggest title of her life.
– It’s something that I’ve dreamed about so much that it hasn’t actually sunk in yet. The crowd was just incredible, it felt like a home Olympics for me and I saw family and friends at every turn as I ran around with the British flag. It just made the moment super special and I’m super happy,” said Hodginson.