World Athletics president Seb Coe spoke about Keely Hodgkinson behind the scenes.
Keely Hodgkinson in dialog with World Athletics President Sebastian Coe throughout a athletes press convention (Picture: Getty)
World Athletics president and Crew GB legend Lord Seb Coe has hailed Keely Hodgkinson as essentially the most real individual he is aware of, sharing the charming second he crossed paths with the 800m famous person whereas she was out marking her birthday. Hodgkinson has swiftly cemented herself because the defining face of British athletics at simply 24.
She stormed to her first Olympic gold in dominant vogue at Paris 2024 and shattered the ladies’s world indoor 800m document in February. Her private finest was set on the London Diamond League in 2024, clocking 1:54.61. She clinched her first world indoor title in Torun in March, additional solidifying a shocking sequence of achievements that additionally encompasses the 2024 BBC Sports activities Persona of the 12 months award and the MBE she acquired final yr in recognition of her companies to athletics.
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Hodgkinson continues to seize the hearts of the general public along with her refreshingly down-to-earth nature, and fellow Olympic champion Coe was effusive in his reward for the Larger Manchester-born observe star.
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Coe, who claimed 1500m gold at each the 1980 and 1984 Video games earlier than masterminding London 2012, appeared on the UNTAPPED podcast and was quizzed about Hodgkinson. He stated: “What I really like about Keely is she might be essentially the most, overlook athletics, she’s in all probability essentially the most genuine individual I at present know.”
“What you see with Keely is what you get. She could be very humorous, she’s completely pushed, however she places issues in perspective. I used to be up in Manchester not that way back and I ran into her one night time going right into a restaurant.
“I used to be on my approach out. I would kind of accomplished the early shift and she or he turned up and it was her birthday. It was a few weeks… I imply she’d solely simply damaged the indoor world document.
“She was solely actually a number of days away from destroying the sector and successful her world indoor title and she or he was simply out celebrating her birthday. She’s simply fully regular, however she is extremely effectively gifted. She’s bought an ideal teaching workforce round her.
Keely Hodgkinson poses for a photograph with the nationwide flag while standing beside her championship document time of 1:55.30 after victory within the Girls’s 800m Ultimate throughout day three of the World Athletics Indoor Championships (Picture: Getty)
“I am in all probability going to lose no matter fan base I’ve bought left within the south of England, however she’s completely rooted to the north of England and that for me counts for lots in life.”
Hodgkinson has been testing herself over shorter distances and is poised to launch her 2026 out of doors season on the Rome Diamond League in June. But her coach, Jenny Meadows, has recognised that breaking the longest-standing document in athletics stays a long-term purpose.
Jarmila Kratochvilova’s girls’s out of doors 800m world document time of 1:53.28 has stood untouched since July 1983, whereas Hodgkinson’s private finest at present sits at 1:54.61. Meadows advised Athletics Weekly: “I feel we’re simply determined to see that 1:53 first earlier than we attempt to go all the way down to the 1:53.28.
“As a result of she has these months now of constant coaching this winter, she’s hitting out of doors instances indoors, and it simply makes me actually excited. I feel she shall be working these 1:53s that she’s so determined to run.
“Whether or not it is 1:53.28, we’ll see, however it was in London in 2024 that she noticed 1:54 on the clock for the primary time and now she’s actually wanting ahead to that second when she sees 1:53 on the clock.”
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