The Olympic 800m silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson improved her personal best in the 400m to win the England Under-23 Athletics Championships title with a new tournament record. The 21-year-old Keely Hodgkinson won in Chelmsford with 52.24 sec. The previous record was 52.43 sec by Christine Ohuruogu in 2005.
Keely Hodgkinson’s best result in the discipline so far was 52.41 sec.
“I wanted a faster result. I was hoping for 51 sec. I feel I can do it, but it was very windy”, said Keely Hodgkinson after the race.
In January she set a world indoor 600m record of 83.41 sec in Manchester, and a few days ago at the Paris Diamond League she broke the British 800m record with 1:55.77 min.
Keely Hodgkinson is an English professional middle-distance runner specializing in the 800m. At the age of 19, she won the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. She is the 2022 World Championships and Commonwealth Games silver medalist, 2022 European champion, and a two-time European indoor champion from 2021 and 2023, with her 2021 title secured as the youngest ever European women’s indoor 800m winner.
In February 2022, she set a British 800m indoor record (improved in 2023), placing her sixth on the respective world all-time list, and then lowered her national outdoor record in June 2023. She also holds world indoor best in the 600m and was the 2021 Diamond League 800m champion.
