Keely Hodgkinson’s coaches believe that she is showing the form in training to potentially challenge both the world 800m indoor and outdoor records
After being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Keely Hodgkinson already has eyes on breaking even more records next season.
The 22-year-old, who became Olympic 800m champion and went unbeaten over two laps all year, will make her first appearance since the summer at a meeting named the “Keely Klassic”, which takes place in Birmingham on February 15, 2025.
The aim? To take down take down Jolanda Čeplak’s world indoor 800m record of 1:55.82.
Čeplak, who notably served a doping ban between 2007 and 2009, recorded that mark on March 3, 2002, which was the same day that Hodgkinson was born.
Immediately after the Paris Olympics, Hodgkinson ended her season – citing a minor hamstring injury – before taking a well deserved break.
Keely Hodgkinson (BBC)
The Brit is now back in training and last night swapped her high-altitude camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa, for the red carpet at Media City in Salford.
Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, who coach Hodgkinson and just short of 20 other elite athletes at M11 Track Club, also won the BBC Sports Personality Coaches of the Year award.
Meadows, a world and European medallist over 800m herself, believes that anything is possible for the British middle-distance runner over the next couple of years.
“We’ve seen all the hard work she’s been doing behind the scenes and I just know this will be the beginning for Keely,” Meadows told AW. “She’s got huge ambitions in the sport and she won’t stop until she’s won at least another gold medal at LA 2028. She’ll probably go beyond that as well.
“We feel we now know how Keely can get both the indoor and outdoor world 800m record. We know when to push and back off and we’ve also trialled some things in training. Of course it always relies on consistency. The big aim in 2025 would be to win both the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing and World Outdoor Championships in Tokyo. Sounds easy doesn’t it?!”
Jenny Meadows with Trevor Painter and Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)
Meadows also states that she thinks Hodgkinson will be best placed to break Jarmila Kratochvilova’s world outdoor record of 1:53.28 – the oldest in the athletics books (1983) – in 2026.
“In two years it’s probably the right time for the outdoor world record,” she added. “Physically we know Keely can run a 1:53 but 1:53.28 is something quite different. So 1:53 something in 2025 and hopefully we can push on in the future.”
Hodgkinson’s best times are 1:54.61 outdoors and 1:57.18 indoors, with the former set at the London Diamond League back in July.
Painter echoes Meadows and is delighted that athletics was in the spotlight at BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
In taking home the coaches award, the pair now follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.
Keely Hodgkinson with coach Trevor Painter (Getty)
“It’s a little bit worrying that Pep won it last year and Man City are on a demise this season,” Painter joked. “But in all seriousness, it’s incredible to follow in the footsteps of those names.
“It’s also great to keep athletics in the public eye really and the sport is so well thought of in the country. An Olympic year always brings emotive moments and an Olympian normally wins it.”
Meadows added: “A lot of people have been saying ‘surely you guys are up for this award?’ I don’t think you take anything for granted but I definitely had a moment when I saw that Kelly [Holmes] and Jess [Ennis-Hill] were going backstage.
“I just nudged Trevor, not even looking at him, to ask if he was okay, just in case we won it. I was so shocked. It was just amazing to see so many of our athletes and Keely’s family thrilled for us.”
Keely Hodgkinson celebrates with Trevor Painter (Getty)
However, The Times has reported that Painter is aiming to meet UK Athletics bosses after being hit with a 62 percent pay cut.
Previously, those who coached global medallists in the UK were paid an annual base rate of £20,000 and received a £20,000 bonus for every athlete they guided to the podium.
That now stands at £15,000 a year if their athlete wins a gold medal, with no bonus involved. For silver and bronze medallists the figure is £7500.
UK Athletics also suffered an eight per cent cut to funding ahead of LA 2028, despite Great Britain securing 10 track and field medals at the Paris Olympics – the biggest tally in athletics since 1984.
Painter guided three athletes to the Olympic podium – Hodgkinson, Georgia Bell and Lewis Davey – in the French capital.
Trevor Painter and Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)
“Over the years, when I was coaching Jenny, we created a system that was self-sufficient,” Painter told AW. “There were times Jenny wasn’t on funding so we had to do it our own way.
“I think that has set us up in a good stance working with Keely. When she was a junior athlete she had no funding and we worked the same way at that point as well. Her silver medal in Tokyo brought riches and rewards for Keely and she’s now means tested out of it. We take whatever help we can get from the national governing bodies but ultimately we try to be self-sufficient.
Meadows, echoing Painter’s sentiments, added: “We’ve now tried to commercialise M11 Track Club and that hopefully gives us the opportunities to work with some partners.
“If the funding is there from the national governing bodies then great but if not we can look at other sources of income. We want to keep doing what we’re doing and we’re still in shock after winning this award.”
» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
