Keely Hodgkinson delights London crowd to lay down Olympic marker

For Keely Hodgkinson, the expectation was already there. With her main rival, the reigning Olympic champion, Athing Mu, not defending her 800m title in Paris, the British three-time global silver medallist had been primed to step up to win gold. But now what? In treating the London Diamond League crowd to the fastest 800m time since Caster Semenya in 2018, she has seemingly made Olympic gold a formality. Illness or injury-permitting, surely no one else can compete with her.

That weight of expectation is something her compatriot Matthew Hudson-Smith must also contend with after obliterating his own European 400m record to move to the top of the world rankings.

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Hodgkinson’s run did more than that, though. It raised a previously unthinkable question. If, aged 22, she is capable of clocking 1min 54.61sec, is it feasible to think that Jarmila Kratochvilova’s world record of 1.53:28 from 1983 is beatable?

“We’re getting closer,” said Hodgkinson. “Do I think it’s beatable? Now, I would say yes. It would take a very special race. But [today] happened. And hopefully I will have a long time to try.”

This was a spectacular exertion of her authority over a world-class field. Passing the pacemaker soon after the bell, she destroyed her rivals from the front, taking the firmest of grips on the race and never allowing anyone else a glimmer of a look-in.

Jemma Reekie, who finished fourth at the last Olympics, managed to stick to her heels until the home straight when she rapidly fell adrift. Reekie was rewarded with a personal best of 1.55:61 to move second on the British all-time list and the 2024 world rankings. Georgia Bell completed a British one-two-three with a rapid 1.56:28 for third. The much-promised golden era of British middle-distance running looks to be here.

“I knew I was capable of that,” said Hodgkinson. “There’s just been a few things I’ve been battling along the way. I’ve just been waiting for a big opportunity to put my foot down and put out a really fast time.”

Hodgkinson credits her continued improvement to a series of near-misses when winning silver at the Olympics and past two World Championships. “I’ve found my proper determination this year,” she said. “I’ve always been hungry for that gold but the Olympics comes round so rarely. I just remember walking off the track at worlds last year and going ‘I am not coming second again.’”

It has been a far longer road for Hudson-Smith, who won European silver as a teenager in 2014 but had to wait eight years for his first global individual medal, subsequently earning world 400m bronze and silver. He set a European record of 44.07sec in May, but smashed that to pieces with 43.74 – the fastest time in the world this year. Only one other man – Quincy Hall – has gone below 44 seconds in 2024.

“That’s exactly what me and my team were aiming for, to get the world lead in time for Paris,” he said. “I wrote 43.70 on a piece of paper before I left. I knew at 370m I had it in the bag so I eased down. I’ve got plenty more. I’m in good shape. This is the first time in a long time I’ve come to a championships healthy. This meet last year I got taken off in a wheelchair with my achilles [injury]. What a difference a year makes.”

America’s world 100m and 200m champion, Noah Lyles, showed his readiness for the Olympics with a personal best 9.81sec victory over the shorter distance. The British champion and college student Louie Hinchliffe earned home nation bragging rights with fourth place in 9.97.

Hinchliffe had been faultless on a British relay debut that ended in disaster. Six weeks after crashing out in the European heats, the men’s 4x100m team failed to get the baton round when leading at the final changeover. There was more joy for the women’s team, who matched the 41.55sec national record as they look to improve on the bronze they have won at the past two Olympics.