Hodgkinson, 24, has had a frustrating outdoor season and has yet to win a Diamond League race this year, despite improving her own British record.
After breaking the 24-year-old world indoor record in Lievin in February, Hodgkinson captured her first world indoor title in commanding fashion in March.
Those successes raised hopes that Hodgkinson would be able to break Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova’s record time of one minute and 53.28 seconds, set in Munich in 1983.
The Briton improved her national record to 1:54.33 in Stockholm in early June but suffered a shock defeat by Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, who ran the third fastest 800m in history to win the race.
Two weeks later, Hodgkinson pulled out of the 400m final at the UK Athletics Championships in tears after feeling “a little twinge” moments before the race.
After Werro improved her best time to 1:53.80 in Paris, Hodgkinson looked to kick-start her season at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
However, competing with both knees strapped after a heavy fall in training, she finished in second place behind world champion Lilian Odira.
Hopefully, Hodgkinson is now fully fit and able to go all out to attack the world record in London.
She will face tough competition in Ethiopia’s Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma and Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol, who has made rapid strides since moving up from 400m to 800m this season and recorded a time of 1:55.60 in Paris.
However, training partner and world silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell has pulled out of the meet because of a heavy cold.
Rising British star Phoebe Gill, who reached the Olympic semi-finals in Paris aged 17, will make her Diamond League debut having battled back from an injury that ruled her out of the 2025 outdoor season.
