World Record That Stood For Nearly 30 Years And Seemed Unbeatable Finally Broken
A world record which stood for almost three decades and looked like it may never be bettered has finally been broken.
Back in March 1997, Danish middle distance runner Wilson Kipketer set the indoor 800m world record at the World Indoor Championships in Paris.
He set the record with a time of one minute and 42.67 seconds and since then, no athlete was able to improve upon it.
The 53-year-old won two Olympic medals with a silver in the 800m at Sydney in 2000 and a bronze at Athens in 2004.
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Kipketer also won gold three times at the World Championships in 1995, 1997 and 1999 which took place in Gothenburg, Athens and Seville respectively.
However, that record has now been broken with a blistering time over this weekend and means that Kipketer's time has finally been bettered.
Josh Hoey, 26, set a new time at the Indoor Grand Prix in Boston which has become a fresh world record in the short track 800m with a one minute and 42.5 seconds time.
Hoey shaved 0.17 seconds off of Kipketer's time and becomes the second world record he holds after setting the 600m short track best just seven weeks ago.
The full 800m world record remains at one minute and 40.91 seconds, which was set by Kenya's David Rushida at London 2012.
Speaking after setting the new 800m indoor world record, Hoey revealed how his brother Jaxson led him to victory after being the pace-setter in the race.
After winning the race by more than two seconds, he said: "We did a lot of pacing work. Just kind of kept steadily improving, taking it week by week, block by block, and we were able to make this work.
"The last 200 I could feel just the support of everyone, and the work of the last couple of months just bottomed out and I'm happy I got that time."
Hoey did not make the American team for the 2024 Paris Olympics after finishing fourth in the 800m race at the trials.
He will be hoping to make the Team USA squad for the next edition of the Olympics, which is taking place on home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.
He claimed the gold medal in the 800m at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
Topics: Athletics
John McDougall