OLYMPIC gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson believes this is the “closest” she has felt to breaking the women’s 800m outdoor record.

The 23-year-old smashed the indoor world record on Thursday in Lievin and has now set her sights on breaking the outdoor feat too, which is the longest standing world record in track athletics.

Jarmila Kratochvilova has held the record for nearly 43 years with a time of one minute 53.28 seconds, set in July 1983 at the World Athletics Championships in Munich.

Hodgkinson believes breaking the record would ensure she goes down as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

She told BBC Sport: “I think the outdoor record would be cemented Goat [greatest of all time].

“It’s stood for a long time and been a long time since anyone’s been able to get near it. I do think it’s possible.

“It’s a difficult record and a reason why it has stood for 40-odd years. It’s literally the oldest record on track so it will be real accomplishment to get near it and hopefully break it.

“I think this is the closest I’ve felt near it. I do really believe that we can break it, but a lot of things have got to come together.”