Hodgkinson starts outdoor season with 400m racepublished at 20:02 BST
Women’s 400m (20:15 BST)
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Keely Hodgkinson won world indoor 800m gold in Poland in March
Keely Hodgkinson begins her outdoor season by running the 400m in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, as she seeks to build speed to help her in her quest to break the long-standing women’s 800m world record.
Britain’s Olympic 800m champion is aiming to topple Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year mark this summer, ideally on home soil at the London Diamond League event in July, after smashing the world indoor record in February.
The 24-year-old, who has a 400m personal best of 51.61 seconds, is joined in Rome by Britain’s 2025 world indoor champion Amber Anning – one of six athletes in the line-up who have gone sub-50.
“Hopefully bringing down that 400m time is going to make that first lap of the 800m feel nice,” Hodgkinson said.
“I think it will give me some confidence. If anyone is like ‘Keely has got no speed’, I’ll be like ‘yes I do, thank you’.
“The 400m for me is a bit of fun, something different. The line-up in Rome is crazy but I think it’s good to put myself in a position where, on paper, I’m going in as the slowest. I’m looking forward to challenging myself.”
