Olympic champion takes on Georgia Hunter Bell, among others, at Diamond League event on Wednesday with fellow Brits Max Burgin, Morgan Lake and Zharnel Hughes also in action
After blowing away the cobwebs in Poland on Saturday with a scintillating comeback run of 1:54.74, Keely Hodgkinson aims to build on that performance at the Diamond League in Lausanne on Wednesday (Aug 20).
Despite not racing since her Olympic 800m victory in Paris last year and overcoming three separate hamstring injuries, she recorded the second fastest time of her career as she came within a whisker of her British record of 1:54.61.
Her surprisingly fine form has renewed speculation that she could give Jarmila Kratochvílová’s long-standing world record of 1:53.28 a scare this season.
Last year her coach Trevor Painter said: “I know there is a mid to high 1:53 in there,” after seeing his athlete run an 800m predictor session of 400m in 56 seconds dead followed by 30 seconds’ rest and then 400m in 57 seconds dead ahead of the Olympics.
This summer the 23-year-old British runner appears to be in similar, or even superior, form.
Kratochvílová’s mark from 1983 is the oldest world record in the book and is mired in controversy. Despite being part of an Eastern bloc system that was renowned for doping, the 74-year-old has always denied knowingly taking drugs. Instead, herself and her coach, Miroslav Kvac, insisted her 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.”
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.
The world record aside, certainly Hodgkinson’s British record looks set for improvement in coming weeks and in Lausanne she will want to cement her status as favourite to win the world title in Tokyo in September.
READ MORE: Keely’s killer training session
Hodgkinson, who was unbeaten during 2024 over 800m, will also want to improve on her last race in Lausanne, when she lost to Mary Moraa in the Swiss city in 2023.
Rivals on Wednesday include training partner Georgia Hunter Bell, world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa, European under-23 champion Audrey Werro of Switzerland, Addison Wiley of the United States, Rénelle Lamote of France and Oratile Nowe of Botswana, the latter of whom Hodgkinson beat in Poland.
Fans will be pleased to hear that, unlike last weekend in Poland, the women’s 800m in Lausanne falls within the Diamond League’s two-hour window of televised events.
It is a big day for Hodgkinson’s M11 training group generally. For Hunter Bell the race will offer the biggest clue yet as to whether she will tackle the 800m or 1500m at the World Championships.
On the same evening in Tooting, London, training partners Ava Lloyd, Erin Wallace and Sarah Healy will be chasing fast times at a British Milers’ Club meeting.
In Lausanne, the men’s 800m B race features Ethan Hussey from the M11 group plus fellow UK Champs finalists Alex Botterill and Callum Dodds.
The UK champion himself, Max Burgin, runs in an A race in Lausanne that includes Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya.
Burgin ran a big PB of 1:42.36 behind Wanyonyi at the Diamond League in London next month and will be hoping for further improvements in Lausanne.
Wanyonyi is the man to beat, though, as he has won in London, Oslo, Stockholm and Monaco this season with a best of 1:41.44 in Monaco, whereas his PB of 1:41.11 was set in Lausanne last year.
World champion Marco Arop, European champion Gabriel Tual and last year’s world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel also compete in addition to reigning world indoor champion Josh Hoey and Olympic finalists Mohamed Attaoui and Tshepiso Masalela.
A number of Brits are in Lausanne looking to test their form against the world’s best ahead of Tokyo. Zharnel Hughes, the British 100m and 200m record-holder, lines up in the 100m against Olympic champion Noah Lyles of the United States, among others, although Kishane Thompson of Jamaica has withdrawn.
Morgan Lake has also shown fine form this year with high jump victory at the London Diamond League. In Lausanne she once again faces world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, plus Australian duo Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson, whereas heptathlon star Nafi Thiam of Belgium is also in the field.
Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita are in a women’s 200m line-up which is led by two-time world champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica
British champions Alastair Chalmers and Elise Thorner race in the men’s 400m hurdles and women’s 3000m steeplechase respectively.
The bulk of the action unfolds on Wednesday night with coverage on BBC2 in the UK from 7-9pm, but the men’s pole vault is on Tuesday night in the city centre.
Timetable and results here
