TOKYO (Reuters) -Kenya’s Lilian Odira produced a storming finish to win an astonishing women’s 800 metres world gold on Sunday, smashing her personal best by almost two seconds and erasing the 42-year-old championship record.
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson looked to be on course for the double as she led halfway down the final straight but the fierce early pace and a battle for the inside lane with Kenyan Mary Moraa seemed to sap her energy.
Odira looked out of it bbut surged through to win in one minute, 54.62 seconds, beating the mark set by Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova at the first world championships in 1983.
Briton Georgia Hunter-Bell squeezed past her compatriot to take silver in a personal best 1:54.90, with Hodgkinson adding bronze to two previous world silvers in 1:54.91.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
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