by Keely Hodgkinson skips the walks of the stands of the Utilita Arena Birmingham, flooded by dozens of desperate young girls for an autograph or a selfie. The Olympic champion bounces with pleasure from a corner over several hours to satisfy her worship fans at Keely Klassic from Keely from last month. In fact, Hodgkinson managed to sweat despite the competition due to an injury to the poorly invented hamstrings who destroyed the hopes of a world’s world record.
However, this setback has highlighted the star that Hodgkinson has since become unforgettable summer evening in Paris, when the 22 -year -old woman broke out of her competitions to grasp a dominant gold on this emblematic stadium track of Stade de France.
An emotional beginning until 2025, having shed a few tears after having undergone this premature injury last month to suddenly end his in -room season, brought an additional perspective on his trip to date. Last year, the sporting personality of the BBC of the year, Hodgkinson dazzled at non -athletic events such as the British, the launch event of F1 in 2025 and even appeared in Wembley for the victory of lionesses over the world champions in Spain.
“You feel inspired [at these kind of events]»Says a floating Hodgkinson The independent After being included as one of the 50 exceptional women celebrated in the 2025 influence list to mark International Women’s Day.
“It was pleasant to mingle with people from other sports and events and see how they do it, especially the big ones at the top. It was very fun, I always said that I take the opportunities when I can meet new people and new cultures. “”
Hodgkinson insists that he remains “incredible to hear the stories of little girls and boys who watched in Paris”, after having repeatedly replayed this 800m final in his mind, until the euphoria to accept a crown instant to cross the finish line.
“My goal in Paris was when you become nervous and you really focus on something, it can be very easy to forget what happened and that everything is going in a blur, so I really wanted to remember everything,” recalls Hodgkinson. “So I really tried an effort to be like, looking around and being really focused. So I remember everything in a way.
“I remember getting out of the tunnel to the final and it was incredible. The crowd was full of British, so it was almost like a home game for me in a strange way. My whole family and friends were there. The whole thing was a little magical, and I could not have imagined that it was better. »»
Hodgkinson has already started to face the additional attention and weight of expectations on the road to the world athletics championships in Tokyo in September. A great team, led by coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, gave the confidence that Hodgkinson has “the best planners and the most meticulous” to position her for what would be a first 800m gold championship for a British woman, with her consecutive silver medals in 2003.
Part of this preparation is how to react to the attention and additional distractions, with his injury to Keely Klassic’s criticism of Michael Johnson. The former Olympic champion, before the launch of his own innovative track of the new Grand Slam series, struck in the event format: “You cannot build around a star.”
But Hodgkinson has shown immense maturity, while facing the frustration of her injury, in her answer when she described her vision of sport and a desire to leave a heritage beyond the track.
“I think people were confused because my name was in the title,” said Hodgkinson. “It was always going to be called like this, whether I was running or not.
“And for us, it was more a question of bringing something new and trying to build a heritage with something that, we hope, spends longer than when I am retired. It was never a question of competing. Unfortunately, injuries occurred, but it was always a big day and we saw great performance. I think we had three British records, so, yes, I think it was success. »»
This maturity suggests that Hodgkinson is in the right mentality to recover from his injury back and face the pressure when she returns to action, with her burning ambition that never.
“It will certainly be a challenge [to win with greater expectations]And this is something that I have not treated before, ”admits Hodgkinson. “But I am a little excited for this challenge.
“Since I became Olympic champion, I feared that I may have a little drop. Or an Olympic Comedown. But that almost gave me a new motivation to want to continue and continue to move forward. The title almost pushed me to say: “Okay, let’s see how far we can go.”
Independent women 2025 – The influence list
