When 2021 commenced, Keely Hodgkinson had wide eyes set on claiming one significant medal before her teenage years were complete. A solid bet, felt the wonderkid from Wigan. European junior gold. A decent, realistic ambition for someone who was ranked just fifth domestically the summer before on an 800 metres list headed by the ascendant Jemma Reekie and the established Laura Muir.
She will take two further medals into her twenties. The first a surprising European Indoor gold in March that rocketed her onto the radar for the very first time. Yesterday, unfathomably, astonishingly, an Olympic silver medal, in a time of 1 min 55.18 secs that also obliterated Kelly Holmes’ UK record of 1995 by over one second.
“I am speechless right now,” said Hodgkinson, scarcely able to process this trajectory. “Kelly is a massive legend of the sport and always will be with that double Olympic gold.”
And in turned out the grand Dame had a small part to play in all this, texting messages her in recent days. ”Just words of wisdom and belief. You have got this, you know what to do, get the job done, conserve energy – that sort of thing. To have some like her believe in me is just amazing.”
Reekie too has long idolised Holmes. She ran the quickest she has ever gone but was denied bronze by a mere nine-hundredths of second by Raevyn Rogers of the USA as she strained every muscle to hold on but lost out. All had to bow to her fellow American, the brilliant Athing Mu, triumphant in what became a charge of the 19-year-olds at the death in 1:55.21, the fourth-fastest time ever.
Entering the home straight, Reekie was closest to her heels, as well-positioned as she could surely hope to have been. Mu broke, she followed. Hodgkinson too. Even when the English prodigy zipped past, the Scot held a significant advantage. Stride by stride, it cruelly evaporated and the line could not arrive quickly enough to dissuade her fate.
“I know that I'm in even better shape than that,” she reflected despite her mark of 1:56.90. “It's just frustrating when you don't perform on the big stage because I've been flying in training and everything else. But I'll learn from it and come back stronger.”
Paris 2024, just three years away. Platitudes of time being on the 23-year-old’s side, however, redundant on this night. “Age is just a number,” said Mu, who has the world now at her feet. “Not too far on, I'm not going to be that happy about it,” Reekie rued. “But there's nothing I can do about it now and I can't reverse time.”
Extraordinary though it was, it could not hold the beer of Tuesday’s showstopper, a sensational performance that will go down as one of the great runs ever seen.
Norway’s omnipotent Karsten Warholm took 400m hurdles gold in 45.94 secs, obliterating the world record he himself claimed in Oslo last month by an eye-popping margin of 0.76 seconds. American Rai Benjamin clocked 46.17 for silver with Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos landing bronze, respectively now the second and fourth-fastest in history.
Much has been made of the inherent speed of this track. And the spring-loaded Nike super spikes, worn by his closest challenger, that Warholm dubbed “bull***t” and added “it takes credibility away from our sport.”
His performance defied belief. The 25-year-old, not of this planet. “I can’t believe the time,” the world champion proclaimed. “A lot of times I’ve been asked about the perfect race and I said it didn’t exist. This is the closest I’ve ever come."
Elaine Thompson-Herah carved her own benchmark, becoming the first woman to complete a sprint double-double by retaining the 100 and 200 metres titles at successive Games. The 29-year-old Jamaican produced the second-speediest time recorded of 21.53 secs to win the 200m and finish clear of Namibia’s Christine Mboma and the USA’s Gabby Thomas.
While Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis confirmed his pre-eminence in the men’s pole vault with a victorious clearance of 6.02m, pausing his celebrations briefly to attempt in vain to better the world record of 6.19m he set in Glasgow last year.
Elsewhere, Josh Kerr was made to sweat in the men’s 1500m heats before joining Edinburgh club-mate Jake Wightman and Welshman Jake Heyward in Thursday’s semi-finals. The medal hope eased off too soon and was squeezed out of the automatic qualifiers in seventh in 3:36.29 before eventually progressing as a fastest loser. “I was just trying to stay focused and push all the way,” he said. “But it just wasn't a good run for me.”
Andy Butchart moved into Friday’s 5000m final with seventh place in his heat. However, Nicole Yeargin was disqualified in the opening round of the 400m for stepping into the adjoining lane within her first few strides.
Meanwhile Laura Muir will hope to pace herself in today’s women’s 1500m semi to set up a chase for medals on Saturday night in Tokyo. “You don't want to have any disrespect to any of the girls out here, but I want to save as much as I can for the final.”
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