{"id":119312,"date":"2026-04-29T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/29\/keely-hodgkinson-lays-out-retirement-stance-and-plan-to-take-extended-break\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:45:00","slug":"keely-hodgkinson-lays-out-retirement-stance-and-plan-to-take-extended-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/29\/keely-hodgkinson-lays-out-retirement-stance-and-plan-to-take-extended-break\/","title":{"rendered":"Keely Hodgkinson lays out retirement stance and plan to take extended break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_4f8be1\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">Keely Hodgkinson has made plans for the future<\/h2>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"37081503\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Keely Hodgkinson has an athletics retirement plan in mind\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Keely Hodgkinson has an athletics retirement plan in mind<cite aria-label=\"Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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 <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/world-news\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">world<\/a> indoor record and <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/other-sports\/keely-hodgkinson-dominates-800m-final-36907156\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">claiming world indoor gold<\/a> to add to her growing haul of medals earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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, <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/all-about\/keely-hodgkinson\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Hodgkinson<\/a> has revealed <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/sport\/other-sport\/athletics\/keely-hodgkinson-retirement-hunter-bell-33851457\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">she may need to take a sabbatical,<\/a> potentially to start a family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">In a joint interview with training partner and fellow middle-distance ace Georgia Hunter Bell for <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/sport\/athletics\/article\/keely-hodgkinson-georgia-hunter-bell-training-friendship-rivalry-m6lcthvms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">The Times,<\/a> Hodgkinson said: &#8220;To extend a career from 19 to 34 is a big ask, but I&#8217;d like to do it. I might need a year off at some point, perhaps when I&#8217;m 30.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">She then jokingly said to world indoor 1500m champion Hunter Bell, 32: &#8220;We&#8217;re going to get pregnant together that year, aren&#8217;t we?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MirrorSport#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell, who both work under coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, have become rivals and close friends. Hodgkinson said: &#8220;We&#8217;ve become friends before we&#8217;ve become competitors, so maybe that&#8217;s what is different about us, why it works.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_6edd97\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" data-tmdatatrack=\"read-more\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"37075458\" data-tmdatatrack-source=\"editorial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/other-sports\/athletics\/keely-hodgkinson-world-championships-tokyo-37075458\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keely Hodgkinson&#8217;s private X-rated comment after rival handed her painful defeat<\/a><\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_6edd97\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" data-tmdatatrack=\"read-more\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36974415\" data-tmdatatrack-source=\"editorial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/keely-hodgkinson-cooper-lutkenhaus-record-36974415\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keely Hodgkinson&#8217;s coaches left stunned by teenager being compared to Michael Jordan<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Hodgkinson continued: &#8220;That&#8217;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&#8217;s been a different journey, for sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Hodgkinson, who had to make do with bronze at last year&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"image-group\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX false\" data-testid=\"imageembed-37081501\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"37081501\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Keely Hodgkinson at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 2025\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 458px) 458px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081501.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_Day-6-World-Athletics-Championships-Tokyo-2025.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081501.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458b\/0_Day-6-World-Athletics-Championships-Tokyo-2025.jpg 458w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081501.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Day-6-World-Athletics-Championships-Tokyo-2025.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081501.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_Day-6-World-Athletics-Championships-Tokyo-2025.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Hodgkinson has enjoyed a superb 2026 so far\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Hodgkinson has enjoyed a superb 2026 so far<cite aria-label=\"Image: Getty Images\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Speaking about her bond with Hodgkinson earlier this year, she said: &#8220;I need to also take in how far I&#8217;ve come, because obviously she&#8217;s been setting amazing goals. But then I&#8217;m like, &#8216;My goals are also great!&#8217;<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"image-group\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX false\" data-testid=\"imageembed-37081502\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"37081502\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.51\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 458px) 458px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081502.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_Georgia-Hunter-Bell-file-photo.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081502.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458b\/0_Georgia-Hunter-Bell-file-photo.jpg 458w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081502.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Georgia-Hunter-Bell-file-photo.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37081502.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_Georgia-Hunter-Bell-file-photo.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell are friends and now rivals\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell are friends and now rivals<cite aria-label=\"Image: PA\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: PA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;It might not be a world record, but it&#8217;s so exciting for me that I&#8217;ve got a British record. [Keely] is super supportive and Trev and Jen are as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I think we&#8217;re able to run a lot faster because we&#8217;re together. I think there pretty much won&#8217;t be a race this year where we&#8217;re both not competing in the same event or the same championships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Our lives are just so similar. It&#8217;s kind of like sisters. Just a family. We can get on each others&#8217; nerves as well, but I feel like overall it is a really good thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/other-sports\/athletics\/keely-hodgkinson-retirement-hunter-bell-37081505\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keely Hodgkinson has made plans for the future Keely Hodgkinson has an athletics retirement plan in mind(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images) 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[1526,1028,195,983],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}