Keely Hodgkinson to race for the first time after hiatus since winning the Paris Olympics

INTERNATIONAL: Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson will have her highly anticipated comeback at the Lausanne Diamond League event, which will happen on Aug 20, just three weeks before the 2025 World Athletics Championships. With 13,500 tickets sold, the competition will take place at Switzerland’s Stade Olympique de la Pontaise. 

Hodgkinson has not participated in any tournament after successfully winning the 800-m gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Unfortunately, her indoor season did not push through due to a hamstring injury that persisted even when she competed during the outdoor season. Keely pulled out of the Stockholm Diamond League last June and recently from the London Diamond League. 

On social media, Diamond League Athletics shared: “Keely and the comeback 🤩 We’ll see her at #LausanneDL 🇨🇭The Olympic Champion will be up against some strong competition, including fellow British 🇬🇧 stars Georgia Hunter-Bell and Jemma Reekie as well as Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma.” 

 

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Netizens showed their support to the athlete by commenting: “Hope Keely actually runs this race 🏃‍♀️🔥🔥🔥💨💨”, “Keely finally 🙌🏼”, and “The diamond league hasn’t been the same!” 

Tough competition for Keely

Keely’s comeback will not be easy, given that she is set to compete against Ethiopian Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma — the current holder of the world-leading time this year of 1:56.64. 

On the same social media post, one netizen commented about Duguma, saying: “Run far away from Duguma, he is a VERY aggressive runner with very bad sportsmanship.” 

More so, her training partner, Georgia Hunter Bell, is also a challenging opponent as she won the second fastest time this year at the London Diamond League with 1:56.74. Furthermore, British athlete Jemma Reekie will also be present. 

Regardless of her performance at Lausanne, the athlete’s Olympic gold-winning time of 1:56.72  surpasses the world championship qualifying standard of 1:59.00, making her eligible as well to participate in the global competition in Tokyo this September. She also announced that she is to be present at ATHLOS, the women-only track event that will hold its second edition in New York City this October.

With her participation in the event, Hodgkinson admitted: “Athlos NYC represents everything I love about our sport: unity, passion, and the pursuit of greatness… I can’t wait to line up alongside some of the best in the world to cap off the season.”

In a social media post, ATHLOS hyped her arrival: “Olympic gold medalist. BBC Sports Personality of the Year. 800M legend. THE Keely Hodgkinson is landing at ATHLOS NYC. Great Britain’s track queen is coming to fight for her crown 👑”

Read more about Keely Hodgkinson’s participation at the ATHLOS here.