Keely Hodgkinson’s spectacular return proves she is Britain’s greatest sporting talent

Keely Hodgkinson did not take the usual path of taking it easy on coming back from injury, running the ninth-fastest 800m in history. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Three months ago Keely Hodgkinson went to Windsor Castle to collect her MBE from Prince William and, unwittingly, nearly derailed her season. The trip from Manchester made her back stiff. Soon afterwards, she tore her right hamstring.

“It was four hours in a car one way and four hours back,” says Trevor Painter, one of her coaches. “If she does things like that, it does mess her back up a little bit. And unfortunately it was a couple of sessions after that when the problem occurred.”