Keely Hodgkinson is set to make her 400 metres Diamond League debut in Rome this Thursday, viewing the sprint as a crucial and “fun” step towards maintaining her unbeaten streak in the 800 metres for the remainder of the year.
The Olympic 800m champion will join a formidable line-up for the event, featuring reigning European champion Natalia Bukowiecka, Jamaican Nickisha Pryce, and British record holder Amber Anning, who was the 2025 world indoor champion.
Hodgkinson, 24, previously demonstrated her 400m prowess by clocking the fastest split in the women’s 4x400m final at this year’s World Indoor Championships in Torun, where she also secured the 800m gold in a championship record time.
While not setting specific targets for the race in Rome, Hodgkinson sees it as a vital component of her 800m preparation.
“I am really excited for tomorrow. I am grateful to have the opportunity to race some of the best girls in the world,” she stated at a press conference.
“I am very privileged to be on that start line with them, so I am hoping they pull something great out of me. I’ll be using tomorrow as a stimulus of fun, to be competitive and to also do something different.”
The British athlete explained that the 400m outing is a strategic move to enhance her speed, a plan previously hampered by injuries.
“The last couple of years I have said that I have wanted to work on my 400m speed, and that hopefully the plan is it will help my 800m – but I have been unable to do that with some injuries I have had,” she said.
“I feel like this is the first time in about probably two years that I have been able to put together an actual bit of 400m block work and hopefully come out and do something great with that. It is a bit of a personal challenge, but also I think it will help me towards my 800m and getting faster.”
Looking ahead, Hodgkinson is scheduled for further 800m races at the Stockholm and Eugene Diamond League meetings, before a highly anticipated event in London on July 18, where she aims to challenge athletics’ longest-standing world record. Her season will also include the defence of her European title in Birmingham.
“I don’t really like to set goals that much anymore. I am very much a ‘go with the flow’ type of person, see what life throws at you,” Hodgkinson remarked.
“I am genuinely in a place in my life where I have everything that I can want. I am happy, I love what I do. I wake up and go to work every day, I just love it.
“If I say one thing, I probably would like to be undefeated in 800m this year, that would be nice.”
