Keely Hodgkinson admitted that she’s feeling nervous ahead of her return to her sport, calling her upcoming race a “nerve-wracking one.” Hodgkinson, the Olympic 800m gold medallist, will be competing in her first competition since her win at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 23-year-old athlete had to put her season on hold due to a hamstring injury earlier this year. Despite the challenges, she is now preparing to compete at the Diamond League event in Stockholm on June 15.
“I feel out of practice in a way, because by the time I do race, it will be 10 months. But it’s nothing we haven’t coped with before. It will be a challenge, the first race will be a nerve-wracking one, because in my last race, I literally became Olympic champion. But I’m excited for it,” Hodgkinson admitted to BBC Sport.
The women’s 800m race in the said event would be highly competitive as it features all eight of the top-ranked athletes in the world, including British runners Georgia Hunter-Bell and Jemma Reekie. Moreover, Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma and Kenya’s Mary Moraa, who won silver and bronze in the 800m at the 2024 Paris Olympics, are also participating in the race.
The athlete added, “When I saw the line-up, it was the perfect motivation that I needed for the next six weeks. Having not competed in so long, it almost seems so far away.”
Now I’ve got that extra motivator of who is going to be there. It is going to be a hard race, we want to come out on top, so we’re working really hard towards that and the races to follow after that.”
“It’s not going to be easy, it never is, but I’m looking forward to it,” she noted.
Hodgkinson’s injury
Hodgkinson gained an injury back in February during her final training session ahead of the Keely Klassic, a new athletics event in Birmingham and which she founded herself. She said that recovering from the injury required lots of her time and patience, and she reassured her fans that her recovery is going well.
The athlete’s main goal this season is to successfully win a gold medal at the World Championships in Tokyo this September. Adding to this, she also hopes to break the one-minute 54-second barrier in the 800m.
“It’s going to be hard in Tokyo, everyone is going to step it up as they do every year, the standard just gets higher and higher… We’re pushing the limits, we want to break the 1:54 barrier, hopefully this year, we’ll see,” Hodgkinson declared.
“But the main aim would be to win gold, and whatever [time] that comes with would be amazing. Titles last forever,” she added.