<\/p>\n
A tearful Keely Hodgkinson pulled out of the 400m final at the UK Athletics Championships moments before Sunday’s race after feeling “a little twinge”.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Olympic 800m champion has been competing over the shorter distance in a bid to improve her first-lap speed and challenge for the 800m world record this summer.<\/p>\n
After qualifying from Saturday’s heats, the 24-year-old warmed up for the final in Birmingham but stepped out of her lane shortly before the finalists were put under starters’ orders.<\/p>\n
Hodgkinson was emotional as she stood at the side of the track before making her way back inside the Alexander Stadium.<\/p>\n
BBC’s commentary team later received a message from Hodgkinson’s coach Jenny Meadows, saying she withdrew as she “felt a little twinge in her last strides before the race”.<\/p>\n
Hodgkinson then added: “I wasn’t feeling 100% standing on the start line, so I made the tough decision to step away and not race. I didn’t want to risk anything this summer.”<\/p>\n
Hodgkinson endured an injury-hit 2025 yet still managed to win bronze at the World Championships in September, with British team-mate Georgia Hunter Bell claiming silver.<\/p>\n
Her withdrawal on Sunday comes four weeks before the London Diamond League meeting, which she has earmarked for a tilt at a world record<\/a> which has stood for 43 years.<\/p>\n Amber Anning<\/b> earned a reprieve after a false start in the 400m but the world indoor champion regrouped to retain her title, winning in a time of 50.16 seconds.<\/p>\n Minutes before Hodgkinson’s withdrawal, her friend and rival Georgia Hunter Bell<\/b> retained her 800m title, leading throughout to win by a distance in one minute 55.93 seconds, breaking a championship record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n