Coach Trevor Painter outlines the predictor session that tells him Kratochvílová’s world record is almost within striking range
Keely Hodgkinson can break Jarmila Kratochvílová’s long-standing world 800m record of 1:53.28, but probably not this season.
That’s the view of the newly-crowned Olympic champion’s coaches, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, based on an indicator session that the 22-year-old ran a week before winning gold in Paris.
Training the British holding camp at Saint Germain en Laye in France, Hodgkinson ran 400m in 56 seconds dead followed by 30 seconds’ rest and then 400m in 57 seconds dead.
Painter says: “Jen used to do it (during her 800m career) and it was really accurate. And in Tokyo it was really accurate for Keely. Then last week her times were ridiculous. So I know there a mid to high 1:53 in there.”
Keely Hodgkinson training at the Team GB holding camp (Getty)
Kratochvílová’s mark was set in Munich 41 years ago and remains the oldest outdoor world record in the book. Such was her form at the time, the following month in Helsinki the Czech athlete won the world 800m title in 1:54.68 followed by a 400m world record of 47.99.
Despite being part of an Eastern bloc system that was renowned for doping, Kratochvílová, 73, has always denied knowingly taking drugs. Instead, herself and her coach, Miroslav Kvac, insisted the performances were down to lots of physical work during her upbringing on a farm, huge amounts of weight training and large amounts of vitamin B12.
When there have been suggestions in the past to scrap old world records, Kratochvílová has reacted angrily. “Complete nonsense,” she said in 2017. “I have never taken banned substances.”
Jarmila Kratochvílová (Mark Shearman)
Reacting to criticism of her muscled physique, she added: “When you work as hard as I did, you have to sacrifice some of your looks. The women of the West don’t work as hard as I did.”
According to reports at the time, Kratochvílová was so motivated that she trained at 4am and refused to have an afternoon rest. There are stories of her sprinting in spikes on a frozen pond when her local cinder track was covered in snow in the winter and, when once recovering from Achilles surgery, she ran repetitions through a foot of water in a pool wearing a weighted vest and put a gas mask on to restrict her breathing.
Hodgkinson sits No.6 on the world all-time rankings with 1:54.61 from the London Diamond League last…
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