by Stuart Weir
Keely Hodgkinson WR
Last Saturday, I watched Keely Hodgkinson run a GB Indoor 800m record t the GB Indoor Champs in Birmingham. Her time was 1:56.33. But she was only practicing!
The big race of the week was at the Meeting de Liévin in Northern France. I was not there this year but attended previously. Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais, near Lens, about 100 miles north of Paris. It is a small town with just 30,000 people but with a lovely indoor arena. The food for media is, well, French. Excellent. An unbelievable tarte aux pommes and a cheeseboard to die for! Sadly not there in person this year.
In Liévin , Keely finished in 1:54.87 to take almost a second off Jolanda Čeplak’s mark from 2002. The supreme irony with a touch of destiny is that Keely was born on the same day – March 3, 2002 – that Čeplak set the mark and has felt for a while that it is her fate to claim the record. That Čeplak served a two-year suspension for a drug offence made a lot of us pleased that a tainted record has been erased.
Keely said afterwards: “Being the world record holder is something I knew I was capable of. Coming here, the question was more: how fast can I go? I am pretty happy with that, but I believe there is more to give. A 1:54 indoors, it’s only my fourth time running sub-1:55, so it is really incredible. I want to thank all the girls for pushing me. The pacemaker also did a great job. I wasn’t just here to break the record, I absolutely wanted to smash it. I am really happy with that.
“It was really exciting all day, and I felt that it would happen today. It was a long wait until the start of the competition and it’s going to be a long night as I am not going to sleep now. But it was worth it and the atmosphere was amazing. I look forward to the future and seeing how much further I can push it. There was a lot of talk online, but I put my phone down today because I constantly saw my own face. The pressure was huge, but it’s a privilege to be in this position, so I welcome the pressure and try to bring the best out of myself.
“It’s incredible that the world record stood for almost 24 years. It stood so long and I know that a lot of people wanted it, so I am proud that I am the one who could break it. I have a lot of people behind me who believe in me, which is really nice. The season has already gone better than I had hoped for. I told my coach back in December that I would be very happy just to make it to a start line this indoor season because of all the injuries over the last few years. To make the start line in shape is even better. This relaxed approach, taking it week by week, was really nice. I didn’t miss a single track session. It was the most consistent build-up towards a season in years, so that’s really exciting and I am very grateful just to be healthy”.
I have been privileged to be in the stadium to see Keely
- Take silver and gold in the Olympics 2021 and 2024
- Take silver in World Championships in Oregon and Budapest
- Become European Champion in Munich and Rome
- Become Commonwealth Champion in Birmingham
- Win the European indoors in Istanbul
- Win a Diamond League final as well as a number of individual DL races
I have spoken to her 1-2-1 and on a number of occasions as part of a GB press huddle!
Well-done Keely! Well done coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows.
