Keely Hodgkinson has dangled the intriguing possibility that July’s London Diamond League meeting could be the day where she takes down Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 42-year-old 800m world record.
The Olympic champion said she would wait until closer to the time before deciding whether to attempt to better the Czech’s time of 1min 53.28sec, the oldest track and field world record still standing.
She joked that the meeting could turn into a “battle of the world records”, with Josh Kerr, Britain’s 1500m 2023 world gold medallist, aiming for a world mile record and the pole vaulter Armand Duplantis also competing.
“I would love to have that happen on home soil,” she said when asked about taking a crack at the 800m world record. “I get really excited about London. There’s just the whole crowd and everything. As a British person it’s just so much fun and it’s definitely the main thing I’m looking forward to this year. It might be a battle of the world records and who can get about one.”
“We have a plan A of what we would like to happen. Obviously, the sport has its own plans sometimes. If I happen to come into shape where I want to go at it sooner or it happens to be later in the season, that could just be how it goes.”
Hodgkinson confirmed she was in prime shape having kicked on in training after breaking the world indoor record in February and winning the world indoor championships in March. “So far, the preparation has gone very, very well,” she said.
“I’m very happy with where I’m at, I’m building on the indoor season that we’ve had. I’ve been healthy for a year now. I’ve not missed a training session, so I’m in a really, really good place. I’ve been able to put together a speed block that we hope is going to come together with my 800 in a few weeks.”
The 24-year-old starts her outdoor season next week with a 400m in Rome before travelling to Stockholm on 7 June for her first 800m of the season.
“The lineup in Rome is crazy,” she said. “I’ve really thrown myself in the deep end. But it’s quite good to put myself in a position where on paper, I think I’m going in slowest and against girls that have been doing this event and are world finalists and Olympic medallists. But I’ve always considered myself a 400m-800m type athlete.
“I don’t think I’ve shown all my potential in the 400m and I got a bit of a glimpse of what I could do indoors so I’m really excited to bring that outdoors. People over the years are like: ‘Keely’s got no speed’ but yes I do.”
Hodgkinson said she has identified some major targets away from winning medals. “I was thinking about it the other day: ‘Wouldn’t it be really cool if I could do a sub-50, a sub-2 and a sub-4 in my career?” she said. “It’s very difficult. But it’s a nice little challenge to have in the background.”
