Keely Hodgkinson has made plans for the future
Keely Hodgkinson has confessed she may have to step away from the sport temporarily if she is to achieve her ambition of competing well into her 30s. The Olympic 800m champion is riding high after obliterating the world indoor record and claiming world indoor gold to add to her growing haul of medals earlier this year.
The 24-year-old, who has already graced two Olympics in Tokyo and Paris, has her sights set on three further Games appearances, which would see her compete until the age of 36. Before that, however, Hodgkinson has revealed she may need to take a sabbatical, potentially to start a family.
In a joint interview with training partner and fellow middle-distance ace Georgia Hunter Bell for The Times, Hodgkinson said: “To extend a career from 19 to 34 is a big ask, but I’d like to do it. I might need a year off at some point, perhaps when I’m 30.”
She then jokingly said to world indoor 1500m champion Hunter Bell, 32: “We’re going to get pregnant together that year, aren’t we?”
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Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell, who both work under coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, have become rivals and close friends. Hodgkinson said: “We’ve become friends before we’ve become competitors, so maybe that’s what is different about us, why it works.”
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Hodgkinson continued: “That’s probably the difference. We get on really well. But she only became an 800m rival last year. Maybe it would have been different if Georgia had wanted to come into this group now. It’s been a different journey, for sure.”
Hodgkinson, who had to make do with bronze at last year’s World Championship in Tokyo after fighting back from injury, recently secured gold with a commanding victory in the 800m at the World Indoor Championships in Poland.
She recorded a championship-record time of 1 minute, 55.3 seconds, the second-fastest indoor performance in history, behind the world record she set in Lievin, France, in February. Hodgkinson is now setting her sights on breaking the long-standing outdoor record.
Hunter Bell is also in fine fettle, albeit having followed a vastly different career path to Hodgkinson. After returning to athletics during the pandemic, she walked away from her full-time tech sales role following her 1500m bronze at the 2024 Olympics.
Speaking about her bond with Hodgkinson earlier this year, she said: “I need to also take in how far I’ve come, because obviously she’s been setting amazing goals. But then I’m like, ‘My goals are also great!’
“It might not be a world record, but it’s so exciting for me that I’ve got a British record. [Keely] is super supportive and Trev and Jen are as well.
“I think we’re able to run a lot faster because we’re together. I think there pretty much won’t be a race this year where we’re both not competing in the same event or the same championships.
“Our lives are just so similar. It’s kind of like sisters. Just a family. We can get on each others’ nerves as well, but I feel like overall it is a really good thing.”