Keely Hodgkinson returns to competition at the European Athletics Championships in an unusual position. After breaking the world indoor record over 800m in March, it looked as though the world was at her feet. But the Paris Olympic champion has had a distinctly stop-start outdoor season, troubled by a “freak” injury and dogged by bad luck, and has been beaten resoundingly, twice, by Switzerland’s breakout star Audrey Werro, the fastest woman in the world this year.
With that in mind, does she still believe she is the best in the world, going into a major championships on home soil? On a video call with The Independent and other outlets, she smiles confidently as she says: “Yes, I still believe I’m very much capable of that.
