During Keely Hodgkinson’s season from hell she has fought back from three hamstring injuries, plunging lows and frustrations, and a 376-day enforced break from racing. But when she asked her body for one last miracle in Tokyo it was unable to obey.
Coming into the home straight of a spicy 800m, the Olympic champion once again saw gold in her eyes. But at the death, her lack of racing in 2025 – and, it later turned out, a stomach bug – caught up with her.
First the unheralded Kenyan Lilian Odira, the world No 17, swooped past to claim a shock victory in 1min 54.62sec. It was a personal best time by nearly two seconds, and afterwards the 26-year-old dedicated her gold medal to her two sons, who are four and two.
Behind her a desperately close battle of Britain was under way, with Hodgkinson’s teammate and training partner Georgia Hunter Bell pipping her to silver by just 0.01 in the dip in 1:54.90, another big lifetime best. That meant Hodgkinson had to settle for bronze, despite her third-fastest time, 1:54.91. It was still a heck of an effort, given her injuries meant that she had raced only twice this year before arriving in Tokyo. Yet rarely has an athlete looked so underwhelmed.
When asked for the verdict on her season, she was blunt. “It’s been an absolute shit show, honestly.
“I definitely do feel a little under-raced. Two races is probably not enough, especially after so long out. I felt really bad in the semis but looking back, I think my stomach was playing up a little bit.
“It’s nothing that if I was in everyday life would affect you. But I guess when you’re trying to run at that level …”
Perhaps the signs were there before the start. Normally Hodgkinson smiles and waves at the camera when she is introduced. This time she merely bowed.
The race itself was a burn-up from the start with another Kenyan, Mary Moraa, going through the first 200m in 26.46 and surging through 400m in 55.73. But Hodgkinson was right with her, and when she squeezed into the lead and kicked for home, there was a brief moment she thought she could defy the laws of athletics gravity.
“I thought I had it. I didn’t sense the other Kenyan coming on the outside. But there wasn’t really much more I could do. I left it all out there. In the last five metres, my legs were falling off.”
The pain was evident in every syllable. No wonder, given that last week in training she had run a session that suggested she was in the form of her life. But with time will come perspective. Hodgkinson is still only 23, yet this was her fifth global medal. And, as UK Athletics’ performance director, Paula Dunn, revealed afterwards, her stomach problem was worse than she had let on.
“She’s been unwell,” said Dunn. “She wouldn’t make any excuses, but she has been unwell the last few days.
“Keely could quite easily have not come. When I spoke to her in April, I suggested, because she had two massive years, she could miss this. She said absolutely not. For her to put reputation on the line, to run unwell with minimal races, is amazing.”
This result meant that for the first time since the 1984 Olympic 1500m, when Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram duked it out in Los Angeles, two Britons had made the podium in a global middle-distance race.
Hunter Bell was rightly delighted with adding an 800m silver medal to her 1500m bronze from Paris, even though it meant being ruthless in beating her friend and roommate. “Yeah, well, that’s racing,” she said.
There were no other glory moments for Britain on the final day of these world championships, with George Mills struggling way off the pace in the men’s 5,000m and Morgan Lake coming seventh in the high jump after having her attempt at 1.97m disturbed by what she called “absolutely biblical rain”.
Britain’s 4x100m women came fourth behind the US, Jamaica and Germany despite leading at halfway after storming legs by Dina Asher-Smith and especially Amy Hunt, who ran 9.95sec on the back straight.
It means the British team will leave Tokyo after finishing 21st in the medal table, behind Tanzania, Switzerland and even Ecuador, without a gold for the first time in 22 years.
Dunn suggested the modest performance was down to a combination of injuries to the 1500m star Josh Kerr, the pole vaulter Molly Caudery and the 400m runner Matt Hudson-Smith, underwhelming relays, and other nations stepping up.
“It’s a time to reset,” Dunn said. “We will be speaking to all the coaches and athletes. Obviously people are disappointed.”
That assessment was shared by UKA’s chief executive, Jack Buckner. “We know where we are now,” he said. “And I would say we’re probably just middle of the pack.”
• This article was amended on 21 September 2025. An earlier version incorrectly said that the 800m was the first time since 1993 that two Britons had made the podium in the same world championship race. It was further amended on 23 September 2025 to correct the figure in the pullquote, which referred to GB having finished in 20th position, when as the article correctly said, GB finished 21st.
