The giant rainbow over the Munich skyline moments before Keely Hodgkinson’s third major 800m final of the summer proved the sweetest of omens. Two minutes later, Britain’s most talented young athlete finally found her pot of gold.
Victory came with a familiar display of class and authority, the 20-year-old from Wigan striding clear with 250m to go before quickly putting the race to bed. In truth, European gold was hers long before she eased up to win in 1min 59.04sec, half a second clear of France’s Rénelle Lamote. Afterwards Hodgkinson was asked whether it was easy as it appeared. “I’m glad it looked like that,” she said, which was her polite way of saying yes.
