No British woman currently holds a World Record in athletics. That might change tomorrow. Is it destiny? A long talked about dream might turn to reality when Keely Hodgkinson steps onto the track at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin. The Olympic Champion sat down with James Rhodes ahead of her attempt to add her name to the history books.

This story starts with two things that happened on 3 March 2002. The European Indoor Championships. Jolanda Ceplak was battling with Steffi Graf over four laps of an indoor track in Vienna, racing to an 800m World Record of 1:55.82. A couple of thousand kilometres away, Keely Hodgkinson was born. Who knew then that, 8,754 days later, she would be preparing for an attempt to break that still-standing time.

The journey to this moment has not been entirely smooth sailing, particularly when it comes to racing on the indoor oval. Three missed World Indoor Championships, and a World Record attempt – at home – cruelly succumbed to injury last year. Tomorrow evening, in a small town in northern France, the stars might align to allow this fantasy-like story to become reality. Getting to the start line in one piece, and in top fitness, could be seen as almost as big a success as the race result itself.

“I feel like it was kind of taken away from me last year. I was definitely in the shape to do it, but unfortunately the hamstring didn’t want to do it!

I’m excited. I’ve been excited for three weeks, I’ve been counting the days down! Seeing everybody else race, it makes me just want to get out there. I want to seize the opportunity, it’s a quick track here and hopefully we’ll have a smooth race”.

Destiny Unfolding

Lievin is a track Hodgkinson knows well, having raced here twice before. Her last visit, in 2023, brought a then-British Record of 1:57.71. France has delivered plenty of fond memories, culminating of course with Olympic gold in Paris.

It won’t be all plain sailing, with Audrey Werro – the World Leader until last weekend – and 2024 World Indoor Champion Tsige Duguma in the field. However, her own race, and a potential time, are the only thing Keely is focused on. The coincidence of the World Record being set on the day of her birth has not gone unnoticed. It is something of a storyteller’s dream. You could say it’s destiny, if such a thing exists. Keely sees it that way too.

“I’d be fuming if someone else got it before me! It was set on the day I was born, what’s more destiny than that?

I’m going to be 24 next month, so it’s stood for a long time. Jenny [Meadows] was in the stadium when it happened, I was being born out of the womb, they were running fast. I see it as a good challenge; it’s nice to have this challenge early in the season and even more to come outdoors as well”.

Before the outdoor season comes around, however, there is a small matter of the World Indoor Championships. It’s not just a medal that is missing from her CV, but even just an appearance. The past three attempts, including on the day of the race 2022, have fallen short. Next month will hopefully be fourth time lucky. One race at a time, though.

A Warning Shot

No one has got close to Ceplak’s time in the past 24 years. That is until Saturday, when a warning shot was fired at the British Indoor Championships. Not much says ‘I am ready’ more than solo running 1:56.33, the fastest time since the day Hodgkinson was born. Impressively, it came without lights or a pacer, tools that are all too common in today’s racing world.

More impressively, it had been almost three years since her last indoor race. If there were nerves whilst sitting in the call room in the bowels of the Utilita Arena, they didn’t show once on the track.

“Yeah, there were nerves. There’s always some nerves when it comes to racing, especially the first one. I hadn’t run indoors for so long, I had no idea what was going to happen, but I was happy with it.

I wasn’t sure whether to run quick or not. My warm up was great and I thought, ‘well, if I wasn’t going to be here I’d be killing myself in training, you may as well run out and get something out of it’. It was cool”.

Since that race in Birmingham, there has been plenty of talk, almost expectation, that the World Record will fall. The beauty of this sport, however, is that anything can happen. Hodgkinson has worked on cancelling out the external noise and bouncing back from a strong performance.

“It’s definitely something I’ve worked on over the years. Doing something quick like that [British Indoor Championships] and then coming back and still having the drive and motivation to do even more. I think we’ve done a good job, I’m excited for tomorrow and I can’t wait to see what happens”.

Full Circle

You can add an extra chapter to this story. As Keely noted, Jenny Meadows, now part of Keely’s coaching team alongside husband Trevor Painter, was in the stadium that day in Vienna. She had raced in the heats of the 800m one day earlier, but was clipped and did not finish. With the M11 Track Club, it feels full circle that a person who raced at the event where the current World Record was set, may have played a part in seeing it bettered all these years later. As Jenny herself says;

“It’s a really nice moment. I actually remember being in the stand, crying, saying how am I ever supposed to do that? I wasn’t able to do it myself, and I’m so privileged to be in a position where I can hopefully help contribute to somebody who can, because obviously she’s very capable”.

The women’s 800m at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin takes place at 21:25 (UK time) on Thursday 19 February.