Keely Hodgkinson has been a star of the observe ever since she burst onto the scene in 2021, however the Olympic 800m champion has needed to overcome a number of obstacles away from sport
Olympic gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson has had a whirlwind journey since profitable hearts in Paris final summer time.
The 23-year-old turned an in a single day sensation after her beautiful victory within the 800m occasion. Since then, she’s maintained her standing as an athletic powerhouse, having first made waves with a silver medal win on the Tokyo Video games in 2021.
The Mancunian secured silver on the World Indoor Championships in 2022 and clinched her first senior out of doors gold on the European championships in Munich later that yr. Since then she’s been on a trajectory that has seen her scoop the BBC Sports activities Persona of the Yr award final yr.
As her superstar rises, Hodgkinson has additionally been noticed at occasions such because the Brit Awards and Formulation 1’s 2025 launch. With the Olympian now getting ready for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September, Mirror Sport takes a better have a look at her life off the observe.
Mind tumour scare
Behind her outstanding accomplishments lies a narrative of resilience. Hodgkinson has bravely shared particulars a few harrowing expertise with a tumour that resulted in partial deafness in a single ear, studies Wales On-line.
“It crushed by way of my listening to bones and it was simply touching my backbone,” she advised Sky Sports activities in 2024. “So the danger for the operation was to take it out or maintain it in.
“If you happen to maintain it in and let it develop, it may hit the backbone and I might find yourself with Facial Palsy. Now that was fairly scary for a 13-year-old woman to assume that might occur, however the bones have been already crushed anyway in order that they tried to avoid wasting them however that turned out why I had loads of listening to issues rising up.”
She revealed a protracted operation meant she missed a month of college as a baby. “I could not stroll – which is bizarre to assume – as a result of it is in your ear, your steadiness and issues like that,” she stated. “However fortunately all of it went to plan. They removed it and I am simply left with lacking listening to. It is not too dangerous.”
Break up from her boyfriend
In an October 2024 interview with The Sunday Occasions, the middle-distance champion candidly disclosed that her three-year romance got here to a finish in January. Her ex-boyfriend in query was reportedly a fellow runner who lived overseas.
Hodgkinson acknowledged that the geographic separation in the end spelled the tip of their relationship. “Lengthy-distance killed it,” she stated. “He was dwelling in Texas after which Italy, and with my schedule, we might go weeks with out seeing one another. It was robust.”
She additionally revealed that she was now single, including: “I am probably not enthusiastic about courting proper now. I’ve by no means been on the apps. I like assembly folks in actual life.”
Heartbreak
The observe star admitted that she was “heartbroken” after her plans to attempt to smash the world indoor 800m document in February this yr have been left in tatters.
Hodgkinson was dealt a devastating blow after struggling a hamstring tear forward of the Keely Klassic in Birmingham, a meet named after her.
“Issues actually got here collectively effectively and simply on the final second, it is sadly been taken away,” she stated to Sky Information. “That is most likely why this occurred. An excessive amount of velocity and the muscle groups cannot fairly take it but. Every year I am getting stronger and stronger,” she acknowledged. Her sights at the moment are firmly set on shattering the 42-year-old world document, set in 1983 by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova.
“I stay up for having that as a extremely large goal and seeing how briskly I can go,” she stated. Together with her eyes on the prize, she’s desperate to get better shortly and return to her dominant type in Tokyo this Autumn.
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