by Stuart Weir
Keely is back!
There was a lot of pressure on Keelty Hodgkinson as she lined up in Silesia. It was her first race since the Paris Olympics, with an injury keeping her off the track for a year. Having missed the GB trials, she needs to prove her fitness to secure the discretionary selection place in the British team for Tokyo.
Before the race, she told the media, “ Being injured has been upsetting at times, but it just makes the good times sweeter. This race is just a stepping stone on the way to the Tokyo Olympics. It’s been a long time, over a year since Paris, and it wasn’t my plan to be this late. I’m thrilled to get back on the start line, as I’ve missed it a lot and can’t wait to give it my absolute best.
“I’m looking forward to being competitive again, and I’ve come out ready to go. I’m excited to put something together because it’s been a frustrating year, for real. Coming off the back of the Olympics, it hasn’t been ideal that I couldn’t even get to the start line. Missing the London Meeting was the hardest for me because it was so good last year. I just wanted to be there.”
The race in Silesia was part of the warm-up program, not a Diamond League event, and featured a weaker field. None of that mattered as Keely ran from the front to win in a world-leading 1:54.74, just 0.02 slower than the Olympic final last year.
Keely said afterwards: “The track here is high-speed. I wanted to open my season today. I was ready, and it worked. I was just happy to step on the track after more than a year. As I got closer to the race, I became increasingly relaxed. I enjoyed the feeling of the race. I planned to run a fast time because I don’t have many races before Tokyo; I only have today and the meeting in Lausanne. So it had to be fast, and I am happy that it worked”.
