Munich 2022 European 800m champion and silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and last year’s World Championships in Oregon Keely Hodgkinson was disappointed with her second place at the Lausanne Diamond League on Friday.
The 21-year-old British athlete, who also has two European indoor titles in the discipline, finished behind Kenyan Mary Moraa – 1:57.43 min to 1:58.37 min. It was her first loss of the season, but she explained that she is in excellent shape .
“I wasn’t too happy about this race, I was in great form but I guess it wasn’t my day. Mary Moraa was better. My plans for the season have not changed”, said Keely Hodgkinson after the race, in which she was tipped as the main favorite for first place.
Keely Hodgkinson 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.
Both Hodgkinson’s Tokyo result and her junior indoor mark are European U20 records, making her at 800m the fourth-fastest and the second-fastest under-20 woman of all time respectively.