Keely Hodgkinson is an English athlete who specializes in the 800 meters.
Born on March 3, 2002, she won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the age of 19, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Keely has won several other medals including silver at the 2022 World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games, and is a two-time European indoor champion from 2021 and 2023.
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Keely Hodgkinson Biography
Keely Hodgkinson started her athletic journey with Leigh Harriers at the age of nine but initially swam with Howe Bridge Aces before dedicating herself fully to running. At age 10, she competed in the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships in London where she finished second in the 500 meters and swam 50 meters with a personal best for eighth place overall. Her father advised her to run, and she was inspired by British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill winning a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
In 2013, at the age of 11, Keely Hodgkinson won a one-mile cross country course, becoming the first Leigh Harriers girl to take the individual under-11 title in both the South East Lancashire League and the Red Rose League. She had an unbeaten streak of 14 consecutive running events and about two weeks later, won her 16th undefeated race by leading the 2 km course by 45 seconds. As a first-year U13, she became double Greater Manchester champion at the 800 and 1200 meters.
The following year, in 2014, Keely Hodgkinson won all her 13 track races across 800-1500 meters events as well as many cross country competitions. She took her third Greater Manchester title on a 2.75 km cross country course and later defended both her track titles, breaking championship records. Her 1200 meters best was bettered only in 2019, remaining as of 2023, the third-fastest on the British U13 girl’s all-time list.
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In 2015, she had to limit training and starts due to a mastoidectomy surgery to remove a tumor on her ear, which left her 95% deaf in this ear, followed by problems with knees. Aged 14, she finished third in the U15 800 meters events at the ESAA English Schools’ Championships and at the England Championships.
The next year, in 2017, running in the U17 800 meters races, she came fourth at the ESAA Championships and took her first gold medal at the England Championships, setting a lifetime best of 2:06.85. In June 2018, at 16, Hodgkinson became the England U20 800 meters champion. The next month, she won a gold medal at the European U18 Championships held in Győr, Hungary, finishing in 2:04.84 and breaking the championship record in the process. Her season’s and lifetime best was 2:04.26.
In 2019, her athletics year was affected by shin problems for most of the winter. Despite this, she placed second at the England under-20s and took bronze at the U20 Europeans held in Borås, Sweden, setting a new personal best of 2:03.40. On February 1, 2019, still only 17, Hodgkinson won the 800 meters event at the Vienna Indoor Track & Field competition in a European U20 record time of 2:01.16, breaking Kirsty Wade’s long-standing 1981 British U20 record of 2:02.88.
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Keely Hodgkinson Husband: Is Keely Hodgkinson Married?
As of 2022, Keely was not known to have a husband. Additionally, there were no details about her boyfriend and it seems she is fully focused on her career at the moment.
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