Keely Hodgkinson surprised even herself after running an impressive leg in the 4x400m relay less than an hour after securing 800m gold at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland.
Olympic champion Hodgkinson secured her first world title with a dominant performance in her favoured event in Torun, before joining an unconventional British quartet to compete in the relay.
With the British squad short of 400m runners, Hodgkinson and sprinter Dina Asher-Smith stepped in alongside Tess McHugh and Louisa Stoney to record a fifth placed finish in the relay.
Asher-Smith, a 60m finalist, produced a strong time of 51.29sec for her leg before Hodgkinson, not a noted 400m runner, clocked the fastest split of the race clocked the fastest split of the race (50.10sec) in a sign of her excellent form.
Hodgkinson blasted away to clock 23.4sec through 200 metres, a time that left even her taken aback.
“Sometimes I surprise myself,” the 24-year-old posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The women’s 4x400m relay was won by the United States, their sixth success in the last nine editions of the World Indoors. The Netherlands brought home the baton for silver, with the Spanish quartet pipping Poland to bronze in the final event of the championships.
