Olympic icon Keely Hodgkinson has reacted to breaking the 800m indoor world document
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has showcased her new outlook after smashing the indoor 800m world document. The 23-year-old posted a shocking time of 1 minute 54.87 seconds in Lievin on Thursday, breaking the earlier document by almost a second.
Jolanda Ceplak’s time of 1 minute 55.82 seconds had been set on 3 March 2002, the identical day Hodgkinson was born. Shattering the indoor world document had lengthy been a burning ambition for Hodgkinson.
She was hampered by harm for lengthy stretches of final 12 months following her Olympic triumph in 2024. Nonetheless, her consideration will now flip to the outright 800m world document of 1 minute 53.28 seconds, which has been held by Jarmila Kratochvilova since 1983.
Chatting with the gang after her record-breaking efficiency, Hodgkinson mentioned: “Thank God! That was actually enjoyable. I used to be actually wanting ahead to this.” She was subsequently introduced with a golden crown and sat upon a throne in conjunction with the observe.
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Discussing her ambitions for the rest of the 12 months, Hodgkinson not too long ago instructed The Inside Lane: “I really feel like this season goes to be a delayed however by no means denied sort second. I’ve had my healthiest winter in years. I am actually comfortable about that and I am simply grateful to have the ability to transfer my physique, push it, not have something maintain me again and simply do what I do finest, run.
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“I feel my purpose for this 12 months is simply to see the boundaries that we are able to push. I feel, I’ve mentioned up to now couple of years, 1:53 is feasible. I actually suppose it’s.
“I feel this may be a great 12 months to strive, so long as I keep wholesome, get the whole lot completed and provides it a great shot. I have been knocking on that 1:54 for some time, I feel I am due a 1:53.”
But the Workforce GB athlete’s drive to achieve her targets has shifted significantly lately. Forward of the Paris Olympics, Hodgkinson had her sights set on a Porsche if she received Olympic gold.
“I need a new automobile,” she mentioned on the Excessive Efficiency Podcast. “If I get the gold, it is a good payday and I am going to purchase myself a brand new automobile. I need a Porsche, the low down sports activities one, it is a very nice beige color. It is simply scorching.”
Final 12 months, the Olympic champion revealed she’d had a change of coronary heart about buying the luxurious automobile after taking it for a check drive. As an alternative, Hodgkinson has embraced her comeback and is pushed by her ardour for competitors relatively than large purchases.
“What have I used for motivation this 12 months? To be sincere, final 12 months, I loved competing a lot, that feeling of being in the most effective form of your life, having the ability to placed on a efficiency and win races,” Hodgkinson mentioned on her return to the Excessive Efficiency Podcast in October. “Simply having the ability to do what you labored so laborious for, that was actually all my motivation this 12 months.”
Regardless of her harm troubles final 12 months, Hodgkinson opened up in regards to the precious classes she picked up whereas sidelined. The 800m Olympic champion revealed that her enforced break from the game had given her a recent perspective.
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“A great factor if you get injured is you’ve gotten a lot extra time,” Hodgkinson mentioned. “I’ve not travelled as a lot, I spent between April and July at dwelling, which I by no means get to do. With that point, I received to see my household extra, I received to see my associates extra, I simply needed to take pleasure in life.”
She added: “Possibly that is one other method that I am a special particular person now, I do not have a look at these issues as objectives that I would like. It is extra simply, I wish to take pleasure in each little factor that comes my method, and simply have a great time with that and encompass myself with nice individuals and expertise good issues.”