Olympic 800m champion set to race for the first time since last year’s victory in Paris when she takes to the start line in the Diamond League in Silesia on Saturday
Just over one year since storming to Olympic gold in Paris, Keely Hodgkinson will make her much-anticipated return to the track on Saturday (Aug 16) at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia, Poland.
There have been a few false starts in the past 12 months. She was unable to race at the event in February that bore her name – the Keely Klassic – for example. The recent Diamond League in London came a little too soon for her as well as she battled back to fitness following hamstring problems.
But she is finally poised to race this weekend in Poland in a non-Diamond League 800m race before testing her fitness again four days later at the Diamond League in Lausanne.
Hodgkinson’s race unfolds just before the start of the two-hour Diamond League window of televised events, so fans will hope the producers begin their broadcast by showing a two-lap race which will have unfolded just a few minutes earlier.
When it comes to competition, Oratile Nowe of Botswana has the best season’s best with 1:57.49 but the field also includes Abbey Caldwell and Catriona Bisset of Australia, Raevyn Rogers of the United States and Gabriela Gajanová, the Slovakian athlete who finished runner-up to Hodgkinson in the European Championships in Rome last year.
It’s a strong field but is an ideal field for a comeback appearance as it does not include her biggest rivals such as Mary Moraa, Tsige Duguma, Prudence Sekgodiso, rising star Audrey Werro, out-of-sorts Athing Mu or in-form training partner Georgia Hunter Bell.
This Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting in Poland also sees Faith Kipyegon back in action following her world 1500m record in Eugene in early July.
In Poland she tackles the 3000m – a rare outing for her over this particular distance – and will no doubt have one eye on Wang Junxia’s long-time world record of 8:06.11. Kipyegon’s PB is 8:23.55 but she is expected to at least improve upon that time given the form she has been in lately.
Also in the 3000m are Jess Hull of Australia, whereas the women’s 1500m sees Beatrice Chebet of Kenya taking on Gudaf Tsegay and Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia plus Hunter Bell of Britain. This intriguing metric mile match-up almost happened in the Diamond League in London but Chebet, the world 5000m and 10,000m record-holder and…
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