Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson’s life is altering on and off the observe
Keely Hodgkinson has taken up biking and elevated her weight as she enters a “new period” of her profession. British athletics’ gold lady is driving excessive after shattering the 800m indoor world document in Lievin final month.
The Olympic champion has now turned her consideration to breaking the outside world document, which was set again in 1983. The 23-year-old’s journey since claiming gold at Paris 2024 hasn’t been with out its challenges.
Her 2025 marketing campaign was disrupted by harm after she suffered a hamstring tear in Could. Following her return to competitors later within the yr, she needed to accept bronze on the World Championship in Tokyo.
In hindsight, it was a creditable efficiency, contemplating the harm points, along with her hamstring tear stemming from a decrease again drawback. In an try to stop additional health setbacks, Hodgkinson has integrated biking into her coaching routine whereas evidently placing in important work within the health club, leading to her including muscle mass.
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She informed The Occasions: “I’ve gained a little bit of muscle mass. I am really as much as 60kg. In Paris, I used to be sitting at 54.”
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The transition to biking hasn’t been solely clean, as she’s skilled a number of tumbles whereas studying to unclip. She admitted: “I in all probability fell off seven or eight occasions. However I’ve mastered it now.”
She continued: “I simply needed to vary issues up a bit; get exterior. It began on a vacation in LA within the low season, after which we launched a little bit of driving at our final coaching camp, in South Africa.
“I’ve now purchased a motorbike and I am on Zwift [an indoor cycling app] too. I am shifting quickly and I plan to have a Zwift room in my new flat.” That new flat is in central Manchester, having beforehand lived in close by Salford. She mentioned: “I really feel like I’m in a little bit of a recent period in my life.
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“I wasn’t prepared for the home in Cheshire. That provides me an excessive amount of of a wedding and children sort of vibe. I am solely 23 and nonetheless need to reside the town life. However I am lots happier and extra assured.
“I learnt final yr that inner happiness has to return earlier than anything, and I really feel essentially the most enthusiastic and happiest about coaching and racing since I used to be 19. And once I’m like that, you see one of the best of me.”
Hodgkinson believes breaking the outside 800m document would solidify her standing as one of many biggest athletes of all time. She informed the BBC: “I believe the outside document could be cemented GOAT [greatest of all time].
“It is stood for a very long time and been a very long time since anybody’s been capable of get close to it. I do assume it is attainable. It is a troublesome document and a purpose why it has stood for 40-odd years.”