Keely Hodgkinson 'gutted' by injury setback to postpone Keely Klassic indoor 800m world-record bid
Keely Hodgkinson was forced to withdraw from her own event, the Keely Klassic, in Birmingham this weekend due to a hamstring injury; Hodgkinson was aiming to break the world indoor 800m record but may miss the rest of the indoor season
Friday 14 February 2025 14:49, UK
Keely Hodgkinson has admitted she knew “it wasn’t good” the moment she tore her hamstring ahead of her bid to break a 23-year-old world record this weekend.
Hodgkinson picked up the injury during her final training session ahead of Saturday's Keely Klassic, an event she helped devise, leaving her having to pull out of her attempt at the 800m indoor world record.
"Honestly, I'm really gutted because I was really looking forward to this and I've been working for it for quite a lot of months since we announced it," Hodgkinson told Sky Sports News. "It was a big goal to go for, especially after Paris last year, but everything was going really well.
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"I had my last training session, that went really well, and just did some strides after training. The last one, I just felt this pull in my hamstring. Then I got a scan and it revealed a bit of a tear."
Hodgkinson and her coaches Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter were more than confident she could break Jolanda Ceplak's 800m indoor record of 1:55.82, set in Vienna in March 2002.
Altitude training in the Pyrenees and warm weather training in South Africa had placed the Olympic champion in the best shape of her life, with Hodgkinson running at world-record pace in training runs.
"Yes, I did believe that it definitely could have been done," Hodgkinson added. "Obviously, everything has to go right, it's more than just what I know I'm capable of.
"The race has got to be paced right, you've got to get all that right and have a smooth run. This race was set up pretty perfectly to do so. I just had this image in my head of how well it could have been, which is really sad and it did make me really upset to not be able to put that together."
The injury is set to rule Hodgkinson out the rest of her indoor season, including potentially next month's World Athletics Indoor Championships with the recovery and rehab time from her Grade 3C tear expected to take up to six weeks.
Her outdoor season is expected remain unaffected, with Hodgkinson intending to travel to the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo this September to try and add the 800m world title to the Olympic title she won at Paris 2024.
Hodgkinson will still be in Birmingham for the event, which she helped devise the format for, and believes the new ideas and formats can connect with both the public and a younger audience.
Although Hodgkinson won't be running in the 800m a host of other athletes are attempting British Records including Olympic Bronze medallist Georgia Bell in the 1500m and Molly Caudery in the pole vault.
