Keely Hodgkinson

Keely Nicole Hodgkinson (born 3 March 2002) is an English professional middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres. At the age of 19, she won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. She is the 2022 and 2023 World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, 2022 European champion and a two-time European indoor champion from 2021 and 2023, with her 2021 title secured as the youngest ever European women's indoor 800 m winner. Both Hodgkinson's Tokyo result and her junior indoor mark are European U20 records, making her at 800 m the fourth-fastest and the second-fastest under-20 woman of all time respectively. In February 2022, she set a British 800 m indoor record (improved in 2023), placing her sixth on the respective world all-time list, and then lowered her national outdoor record in June 2023, and again in September 2023. She also holds world indoor best in the 600 metres and was the 2021 and 2023 Diamond League 800 m champion. In September 2023, she entered the top ten on the outdoor world all-time list. Hodgkinson's career trajectory has coincided and mirrored that of two other young talents; Athing Mu of the United States and Mary Moraa of Kenya, with commentators on the sport predicting an extended era of dominance for the three in the 800 metre event. As a junior, at age 16, Hodgkinson became the 800 m European U18 champion and won England's U20 title. A year later, she took bronze at the European U20 Championships. She was the first junior woman in history to break the 2 minute barrier in the indoor event.