Josh Hoey runs 1:42.50 in Boston to break a 29-year-old 800 m world indoor record
Paced by his brother, Hoey took 0.17 off Wilson Kipketer's 1997 mark at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, the first Gold meeting of the World Indoor Tour.
Photograph: Josh Hoey after winning the men's 800 m at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, by 三猎, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsJosh Hoey ran 1:42.50 for 800 metres at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday, a world indoor record. Wilson Kipketer's 1:42.67, set at the World Indoor Championships in Paris in 1997, had stood for 29 years and was one of the oldest marks in the book. The record is subject to ratification by World Athletics.
His brother Jaxson took him through 200 m in 24.81 and 400 m in 50.21, then stepped aside. Hoey passed 600 m in 1:16.19 and closed the last lap in 26.31. The time cut 0.74 off his own American indoor record of 1:43.24 from last February, and USATF ranks it the eighth-fastest 800 m ever by an American, indoors or out. Hoey won the world indoor title in Nanjing last year.
It was that kind of night at the TRACK at New Balance. Hobbs Kessler broke the 2000 m world indoor record in 4:48.79 with Grant Fisher also inside the old mark, a story of its own. Elle St. Pierre won the women's 3000 m in a world-leading 8:26.54 from Australia's Jessica Hull, 8:27.03. Roisin Willis won the women's 800 m in 1:59.59, a lifetime best. Graham Blanks ran 7:31.97 for third in the men's 3000 m. Khaleb McRae beat Quincy Wilson over 400 m, 45.38 to 45.96.
An indoor 800 m is four laps of tight bends with no room to hide. Running 1:42 on them, with your brother doing the first half of the work, is a family business most families would not survive.
Sources: USATF; USATF; World-Track.
