Hodgkinson opens up on dealing with Lilian Odira, other 800m rivals this season
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Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 17.07.26. | 17:50
The 24-year-old will be looking for her first 800m outdoor win this year at Saturday's London Diamond League
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson says she welcomes the rivalries currently existing in the women’s 800m event.
She thinks they will bring the best of her in the future.
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The 24-year-old, speaking ahead of her second home Diamond League appearance in London on Saturday, 18 July, said it was harder not to miss the performances of her stern compatriots, and was looking forward to racing against anyone of them.
Following some dull years in the two-lap event previously, 2026 has offered fans a look at the sort of competition to expect going forward.
The aforementioned Hodgkinson, Kenya’s Lilian Odira, who is the reigning World Champion, Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, the Diamond League champion from last year, and the new entrant to the field in former 400m hurdles star Femke Broeders-Bol have helped rise the bar higher.
Asked whether she was keeping up with her rivals’ performances, Hodgkinson, who is yet to win an 800m race this year, said: “I am fifty-fity I guess. With social media these days you can’t miss anything, but I think it’s [competition] really good.
“I welcome the rivalries, I have said in previous interviews that it’s so much easier to motivate and push yourself against actual people than a stop clock. So I think it’s going to bring the best of us, and I look forward to racing them.”
In her two 800m outdoor races this season, Hodgkinson has suffered defeats to two of her biggest rivals at this moment in Werro and Odira, who all beat her to second in Stockholm and Eugene respectively.
At the former event, however, the British star carried two huge tapings on her injured knees, which impacted her performance.
Explaining the injury that occurred a day to the Prefontaine Classic, Hodgkinson said: “I was just cooling down on a jog, and a metal mesh put on the floor to prevent people from slipping tapped up and I tripped over it, and my knees got slammed into it. It was not pretty at all.”
Admittedly getting over that experience, Hodgkinson hopes to put on a good show in front of a home crowd at London Stadium, and get back to her best.
“I am really excited to be here, in front of my home crowd,” she said. “I didn't get to do it last year, I have only run here once, which infuriates me, but I am feeling good. I am definitely a lot better than I was heading into prefontaine, and when I run tomorrow is just to run free, and relaxed, and that is when I run my best.”