Mary Moraa's British rival postpones 2025 season opener

Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson has pulled out of the London Diamond League (DL) set for Saturday, 19 July.

She was due to return at the Stockholm DL on Tuesday, 15 June for her first competitive outing of 2025, where she was scheduled to take on Olympic rivals silver medalist Tsige Duguma and bronze holder Mary Moraa.

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Her return has been further delayed after a setback in her recovery from the hamstring issue that ended her indoor season.

The 23-year-old was ruled out of her event, the Keely Klassic in February, after tearing her hamstring.

She has not raced since her gold-winning exploits at the Summer Games. She is, however, back in full training, looking to be ready for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo later in September.

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“The London meet has come slightly too soon in her return to competition. Together with her team, she has made the decision to delay her season opener by a few more weeks to ensure she is fully race-ready,” a statement from Hodgkinson’s team read.

“Keely had been looking forward to returning to the London Stadium, the scene of her British 800m record-breaking run in 2024.

However, her priority remains arriving at the World Championships in Tokyo this September in peak form, and this decision supports that long-term goal.”

At last year's London DL, Hodgkinson set a British record of 1:54.61 to go sixth on the global 800m all-time list, finishing ahead of both Jemma Reekie (1:55.61) and Georgia Hunter Bell (1:56.28).

That mark was also the quickest time over 800m since Caster Semenya clocked 1:54.60 in Monaco in 2018. She backed up her national record with an Olympic gold medal over the two-lap race in Paris.

Tokyo will bring good memories for her, as she burst onto the world stage with her Olympic silver medal at the 2020 games, aged just 19.

Since then, she’s medaled at all the subsequent major championships, picking up gold at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, silver at both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships of the same year, before her glorious victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when she became the first Brit for eight years to win an athletics gold.

In the immediate future, the statement on Hodgkinson added: “Her focus is now on completing a solid block of training and opening her 2025 campaign later this month. Further updates on Keely’s season debut will be shared in due course.”

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