Keeley Hodgkinson has won her World Athletics Championship 800m heat, but it wasn’t the Brit’s most enjoyable race.
The 2024 Olympic gold medallist ran 1:59:79 to reach the semi-finals, with Assia Raziki and Clara Liberman also qualifying behind her.
Hodgkinson arrived in Tokyo following a hamstring tear she suffered at her ‘Keeley Classic’ event in February.
However, after Diamond League wins last month, she has returned to the world stage and ready to go for gold once again.
The 23-year-old watched a replay of Thursday’s heat before speaking to the BBC, and was clearly pleased about one aspect of the victory.
“My make-up stayed on,” she joked, although she then revealed her distaste for preliminary races.
“Honestly, we know I don’t like the rounds. They feel awful, they are awful,” she admitted.
“But I just really wanted to enjoy being back in the stadium, I was looking… ‘This is so nice’, so nice to be here and just experience that.”
She added: “It wasn’t pretty or anything, wasn’t dominant, just nice and safely through.”
Hodgkinson overcomes injury to reach Worlds
Having won Olympic gold in Paris last year, a hamstring injury so early in 2025 delivered a big setback for Hodgkinson.
Her appearance at the Diamond League in Silesia saw her race for the first time in 376 days.
Now in Tokyo, Hodgkinson is ready to brush her past fitness issues to the side and win World Championships gold for the first time.
“It’s been a long week just waiting around. Whoever put the 800m last, thank you,” she sarcastically said.
“But I was really looking forward to getting out here, at one point I didn’t even know if I’d be here. So, it definitely means a lot.
“Round by round, I’m really hoping it goes my way. It would just mean even more than last year honestly, so I’m just trying to embrace it all and enjoy every step.”
Hodgkinson has fellow Team GB star Georgia Hunter Bell as her room-mate at the World Championships.
With temperatures rising to around 28C in Tokyo, she revealed their improvised hotel training method to combat the heat.
“It was hot and I thought, me and G, ‘it’s long enough here, let’s just do it here.’ But it worked for us, a little shake-out.
“She’ll be on in a second, hopefully she gets the job done as well, and both of us safely through.”
Hunter Bell swiftly followed Hodgkinson into the 800m semi-finals as she finished first in her heat with 1:58:82.
Both return to the track on Friday, with the 800m final taking place on Sunday.
