Keely Hodgkinson: The new golden girl of British athletics

With the Paris Olympics right around the corner, Team GBs Keely Hodgkinson has hit the best form of her life as she prepares to win gold in the 800m.

The 22-year-old ran her best 800m ever at the Diamond League in London in July 2024, coming in a time of 1 minute 54.61 seconds, the fastest 800m run since 2018.

However, the British runner was the fastest in the field before the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. It was her race to lose, and she did after being outsprinted on the final stretch by Kenya's Mary Moraa.

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For all her talent, Hodgkinson is yet to win a gold medal on the world stage, having won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, two silver medals at the World Championships, and a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.

According to The Independent, the fastest woman in the 800m has vowed she will never be beaten in a major final, and gold is all she is after at the 2024 Olympics.

"I've come into championships ranked 10th and finished second. I was world No. 1 last year and finished second. Times aren't everything, so for me, it's a case of getting to the final, and then we'll start thinking about medals."

What's the added motivation? "My continuous silvers," she said. "Gold is all I have in my head right now. To get the gold in Paris. For me, that was the one I was always aiming for anyway."

Britain's 'Golden Girl' has bounced back from severe setbacks in her life to become one of the country's most hopeful athletes to secure gold in the summer.

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The Telegraph reports that in 2015, Hodgkinson bounced back from an operation to remove a tumour on her ear that left her deaf on one side. Not long after, she became the first junior woman in history to break the sub-two-minute mark in the 800m.

At the London Diamond League on July 20th, Hodgkinson was joined by fellow Brits Georgia Bell and Jemma Reekie on the podium, showcasing Britain's dominance in the event.

Team GB has not had two medals in the same athletics discipline since 1984 and has not had a clean sweep on an Olympic podium since 1908. British fans can be excited and hopeful for the women's 800m at the Paris Games.

The 22-year-old has plenty more years in the tank, but will Paris 2024 be the first Olympic Games in which Keely Hodgkinson starts her gold medal domination in the 800m?

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