TEEN QUEEN
Keely, 19, is youngest Euro champ in 51 years
THere will be bigger championships against better fields, but the early temptation is to assume Keely Hodgkinson will be a feature among the very best of them before long after she became the teen queen of europe yesterday.
less than a week after turning 19, and a month on from breaking the world under 20 record, she produced a fine performance to win 800metres gold on her international debut at the european indoor Championships in Torun, Poland.
she went to the front early in a controlled, tactical race, before showing brilliant finishing speed in a final lap of 28.28sec and crossing in 2min 03.88sec. The Polish pair of Joanna Jozwik and angelika Cichocka — women who had won european outdoor bronze and gold medals respectively — were quality scalps in second and third, as Hodgkinson became the youngest British winner at this level since Marilyn neufville in the 400m in 1970.
after leading Britain’s seven-medal haul on the final day, and contributing to an overall tally of 12 that equals the national record of 12 from Glasgow 2019, Hodgkinson said: ‘i’m so happy. You never quite understand the shock when it happens. You picture it in your head so many times, but when the reality comes through, it’s just a different feeling.
‘i didn’t really think about the pressure. i am only 19 and i’m still learning and there are still things that i’m going to learn. i really believed in myself because if i don’t, who is going to?’ The answer to that is likely bigger than she thinks. For all the muck and chaos around UK athletics, Hodgkinson is one of many track talents coming through.
Given her discipline includes 2020’s breakthrough star Jemma reekie and a seasoned performer in lynsey sharp, among others, it will be fascinating to see if she makes a run at the Tokyo Olympics team. But even if she does fall short, this criminology student from Wigan is on a trajectory as a 1:59.03 runner to be a major competitor in the next cycle.
‘ Potentially there might be a rewrite of what i had in mind for this year,’ she said. ‘nonetheless i’m not really looking at expectations.’
Hodgkinson, who is mentored by former world 800m bronze medallist Jenny Meadows, was the standout performer on a day that brought seven medals but no other golds. World indoor champion andrew Pozzi equalled his personal best of 7.43sec in the 60m hurdles but was beaten into silver by France’s Wilhem Belocian, and men’s 800m favourite Jamie Webb took bronze. He said: ‘i hate to be disappointed with a medal but it was so close. i really wanted to upgrade that silver from two years ago.’
us-based sisters Cindy sember and Tiffany Porter won silver and bronze respectively in the 60m hurdles. Porter is the first athlete to win a medal while wearing a mask.
The men’s 4 x 400m relay team (Joe Brier, Owen smith, James Williams and lee Thompson) took bronze and the female equivalent (Zoey Clark, Jodie Williams, amarachi Pipi and Jesse Knight) won silver.