Keely Hodgkinson, the Olympic 800-metre champion, will be absent for the remainder of the 2024 track season due to her injury.

The 22-year-old athlete finished first in all nine of her 800-metre races in 2024, winning a gold medal in the Paris Games earlier this month. She was supposed to participate in September’s Diamond League finals in Brussels.

 

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Announcing she won’t be participating in any more competition this year, Hodgkinson posted on social media: “No more races for me… Unfortunately I picked up a small injury, but we achieved everything I had hoped to do this year, thank you for all the love and support… See you on the track next year.” 

Hodgkinson’s 2024 performance 

In 2024, Hodgkinson successfully defended her 800-metre European title and set a new national best in July in the London Diamond League, clocking one minute, 54.61 seconds. Her goal is to surpass the more than forty-year-old 800-metre world record for women, which stands at 1:53.28.

In September 2025, Hodgkinson hopes to win her first World Championship championship in Tokyo after taking home silver in the previous two years.

Source: BBC

Once an underdog at the Olympics three years before, Keely Hodgkinson is now one among the favorites to win the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The athlete declared: “It’s quite a privileged position to be in… It’s exciting but a little bit daunting, and a very different position to what I was in last time.”

In her first major outdoor event, she broke Kelly Holmes’ 26-year British record to win the 800m silver.  This is where her career took a turn. 

Three incredible years have passed for the current European champion. When she earned her second consecutive world silver in Budapest, she expressed her regret, which is a clear indication that she is aiming for a higher achievement in the Olympics. 

Hodgkinson – no pressure

“I’m still young but there was no pressure then, whereas now I feel like I have a little bit to live up to…Being chased rather than being the one chasing is a harder position to be in but I enjoy the pressure, to be honest,” she admitted. 

Hodgkinson will once more face competitors Athing Mu and Mary Moraa in the upcoming summer Games as they hunt for a gold medal.

In the Prefontaine Classic, which also serves as the Eugene Diamond League, Hodgkinson hopes to make a significant impression before the 2024 Olympics when the “big three” of the women’s 800m meet head-to-head.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been second every time. But we’re going to try and change that…I think it’s a good rivalry. It’s quite exciting for us all because we’re all so young, we’re all really talented, we work hard and we all really want it,” the athlete said. 

She added: “We don’t race each other that often so, when we do, it’s a big occasion.”

Cover Photo: IG

Source: BBC

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Battling illness, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson successfully defended her European 800-metre title, leaving behind her rivals to win the gold in 1 minute and 58.65 seconds on the final day of the European championships in Rome.

After her exceptional performance,  the Olympic silver medallist and two-time world champion disclosed that she had been ill the day before.

Hodgkinson admitted: “Sometimes you’ve just got to find a way to win…I wanted to go out and have a a good time today, but I’m happy with the win. I would have been disappointed if I didn’t try.”

 Hodgkinson for Paris 2024 

This was Hodgkinson’s second major victory following her win in Munich two years ago. She now hopes to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“I’m super excited for Paris. The next seven weeks are going to be incredible… I do believe in the power of manifestation, so it’s obviously something I think about. The Olympic Games are so special; it’s a huge opportunity to change your life, and I’m just ready to go for it.” Hodgkinson said.

She will probably compete for gold in Paris with world champion Mary Moraa and American Olympic champion Athing Mu.

Another gold for Great Britain 

On the final day of the European championships,Team Great Britain had another reason to celebrate besides Hodgkinson’s victory.

Team Great Britain also won gold in the women’s 4x100m relay. The team features athletes Dina Asher-Smith, Desiree Henry, Amy Hunt, and Daryll Neita. 

They won in 41.91 seconds, beating France and the Netherlands. Asher-Smith, the 100-metre champion, led the way, and Neita, the 200-metre silver medallist, led home.

“That felt amazing, we are definitely trying new things before the Olympic Games. Obviously, we are looking to absolutely do amazing in Paris,” Asher-Smith declared. 

Neita added: “To finish the championships with a gold medal with these amazing ladies, it’s just an incredible feeling, really electric and I really have a good feeling going into Paris.” 

With four golds and thirteen medals overall, the British team finished third in the medal table. Italy, the host nation, topped the table ahead of France.

Source: BBC

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Faith Kipyegon is considered one of the greatest 1,500 metres athletes the world has ever seen. The Kenyan won the 1,500 metres gold in both Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. If she triumphs again in Paris, she will be the first athlete to win the Olympic event three times in a row.

Kipyegon had an incredible season in 2023. She broke world records in three events in under 50 days.

The 30-year-old broke the women’s 1,500 metres world record at the Diamond League meeting in Florence, Italy, at 3:49.11. Less than a week later, she shattered the 5,000 metres world record at the Diamond League event in Paris, France, with a time of 14:05.20. (That record was subsequently broken by the Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay with a time of 14:00.21.)

Next, Kipyegon shattered the one-mile world record with a time of 4:07.64 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco.

Later in the season, at the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, Kipyegon won the 1,500 metres and the 5,000 metres—the first woman to do so at the global spectacle. In recognition of her remarkable feats, World Athletics crowned her the World Athlete of the Year for 2023.

 

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Reasons for her success

Kipyegon has found her way to the top with her talent, work ethic, and positive and humble attitude. The nurturing environment she trained in has also helped.

Born in 1994 on a Kenyan farm in the Rift Valley, she walked and jogged many miles to and from school.

Her physical education teacher identified her potential. By the time she was 16, she had already placed 4th in the World Cross Country Championships.

She had the benefit of training in Kenya’s high-altitude athletics camps. Running at high altitudes means there is less oxygen, and athletes tire more easily. The camps have become renowned for pushing athletes like Kipyegon to the limits of their endurance. The coaches also play a vital role in their success. Retired elite athlete Patrick Sang, for example, has trained multiple Olympic champions, including Kipyegon and Eliud Kipchoge.

Many of the athletes come from poor rural families and run to escape poverty. Kipyegon has gone from running barefoot in her first races to the height of success.

The 800-metre world record for women has been held for more than 40 years, and Keely Hodgkinson is determined to overcome it.

The 22-year-old athlete is inspired to break one of the oldest track world records after winning gold in the distance at the Olympic Games in Paris. 

With this goal in mind, the athlete admitted: “It’s definitely something I’ve thought about since I raced in London… I think that record has stood for so long. It’s been a long time since anyone has hit [one minute] 53 seconds, so I’d love to do that.” 

In July 1983, at Munich’s Olympic Stadium, Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova set a record for the 800 metres with a time of one minute, 53.28 seconds. Although Hodgkinson’s winning time in Paris was 1:56.72, her confidence has increased significantly since her 1:54.61 time in London last July.

Hodgkinson declared: “I think I can. I now believe I can do that.”

Source: BBC