Keely Hodgkinson’s failure to win her latest race was followed by her emotional social media post
Keely Hodgkinson has been overwhelmed by support after disclosing she was unable to walk just days before taking part in a Diamond League race. The Olympic 800m champion came second behind victor Lilian Odira on Saturday in the Brit’s second successive loss at the competition.
The 24-year-old caught attention during her race after spectators noticed cuts and bruises on her knees which were heavily strapped. Speaking following her runner-up finish, Hodgkinson was refreshingly candid about her performance while revealing details of her injuries.
She said aftewards: “It’s shocking, to be honest. It was not good, it’s been a bit of a week. My knees [are] taped up, I took a bad fall last week [and] four days ago I couldn’t even walk, so I guess I should take that into consideration but I wanted a lot more than that.”
The Atherton-born athlete then shared a series of photos on Instagram, including one showing her lying in a medical room with the bruising on her knees clearly visible. Her caption read: “Forward motion”.
That led to an outpouring of support from athletes and the general public who left encouraging comments underneath the post. One person wrote: “You’ve got this.” A second said: “You will come back stronger.” While others showered the athlete with love heart emojis.
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Hodgkinson recorded a time of 1:56:73 in Eugene with Odira completing the distance in 1:56:19. The Brit was considerably off the pace compared to the British record she established in June (1:54:33) which proved insufficient to finish ahead of winner Audrey Werro.
It has been a challenging season for Hodgkinson who was forced to withdraw from the 400m final at the UK Athletics Championship last month as she cited a “little twinge” as her reason for pulling out.
She originally caught attention with her decision to start testing herself at a shorter distance. Taking on the 400m forms part of Hodgkinson’s strategy to enhance her first-lap pace and potentially shatter the 800m world record this summer.
The record is currently held by former Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova who clocked the distance in 1:53:28 in 1983, which remains the longest-standing world record in athletics.
Despite her injuries, Hodgkinson is still anticipated to pursue the achievement at the London Diamond League on July 18th.
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