James Rhodes looks superiority to the women’s 800m – an event that will see an incredible group of British athletes competing.

I genuinely believe the yield of British athletes getting ready to race over 800m and 1500m in Tokyo are the most heady in a long time. All bases are covered; tactically wise runners, unflinching runners, gutsy runners. There are both new names and established faces, those with nothing to lose and, perhaps, those with everything to lose.

For 13 of the 15 middle loftiness athletes, Tokyo will be their first Olympics, including for the trio of women racing over 800m – Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Alex Bell. All three are in the form of their lives and I spoke exclusively to Keely surpassing she headed to Japan, and moreover to Jemma from the Team GB training zany in Yokohama, well-nigh their seasons so far, expectations for Japan and what it ways to be worldly-wise to undeniability yourself an Olympian.

Rising talent

Keely Hodgkinson is one athlete to have benefitted from the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. This year has been the one where the 19-year-old has wilt a household name in global athletics circles, and she heads to Tokyo with, for some people, a shot at a medal.

However, her transilience performances do not come as a surprise to those who have been pursuit her career. Indeed, Keely’s talent and worthiness to unhook at Championship-level is nothing new. Whilst it was in winning the European Indoor Championships this March that she came to the sustentation of the mainstream athletics audience, her performances at age-group competitions are just as noteworthy.

She took gold at the European U18 Championships in Gyor (Hungary) in 2018, setting a new PB and Championship Record of 2:04.84 in the process, winning by a margin of over a second. A year later she took statue at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Sweden with 2:03.40, flipside lifetime best. I asked Keely whether, just two years ago, she overly imagined that she would be preparing for her first Olympic Games, and plane stuff touted as a potential medallist:

“No, definitely not! If you’d said to me two years ago ‘in two years’ time you’re going to go to the Olympics’, I’d have said ‘no way, veritably not!’. I was a 2:03 800m runner when then, I was no way near the standard! But luckily with the support I have virtually me and my coach, they have really brought me on as an athlete, so I am very happy”.

Credit: James Rhodes

Fast Running (Literally)

Such is the quality of her performances in 2021, it is nonflexible to know where to start in mentioning some of the highlights. Her first race of the year, an 800m at the Vienna Indoor Classic, was perhaps a sign of what was to come. She set a new World U20 Record of 1:59.03 (a mark that was ratified by World Athletics just this week), a time that only three British athletes have overly bettered indoors.

Her outdoor season debut over two laps was equally as impressive, running 1:58.89 to win at the famed Ostrava Golden Spike, a near three second resurgence on her previous outdoor best. This was followed up with a debut in the Diamond League and a British Championships title (and guaranteed Olympic spot), surpassing improving remoter to 1:57.51 at the Stockholm Diamond League, a race she told me she hoped would be fast.

That put her third on the British all-time list overdue Kelly Holmes and Kirsty Wade, although Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie moved superiority pursuit 1:56 performances at the Monaco Diamond League. These times, as hugely impressive as they are, have not come as a surprise to the athlete herself:

“I think my mentor and I knew I was capable of those times. Looking when at last year, I finger I didn’t quite get to show time-wise in my races what I could do. Obviously there was lockdown and it was a really tough year for everyone, but I think that is why there has been such a big jump in my times from 2:01 to 1:58. I really worked nonflexible last winter, I wanted to try my wool weightier to get here regardless of whether I did it or not.

I think I thought it [making the Olympics] was a realistic aim without running the 1:59 this year, and this season is going ok so I’ve just carried on!” Describing 2021 as ‘going ok’ is one of the worthier understatements I have heard in the athletics world!

Under Pressure

As an athlete, running fast times is often followed by an expectation from the outside to constantly perform, least of all at the biggest competition there is. However, the level of maturity Keely shows in unescapable the races that she faces in the coming days, is remarkable for someone of her age; let’s not forget, she is too young to have been eligible to compete at this year’s European U23 Championships.

“I think there might be some pressure, but I have quite upper expectations of myself. I do want to be in that Olympic final, but in terms of pressure I sometimes think you can just put that upon yourself. Other people may say things, but it doesn’t matter what they think – it’s all well-nigh what you want to do and how you want to tideway it. I’m just looking forward to giving it my all and hopefully coming when with something good”.

Training Partnership

I have no doubt that this maturity is, at least in part, thanks to the formidable partnership she has with her coach, Trevor Painter, and his wife, Jenny Meadows. A 1:57.90 800m runner, Jenny’s incredible career included racing at the 2008 Olympics and taking statue at the 2009 World Championships. I asked Keely just how valuable it is to have such wide-stretching experience, expertise and wisdom readily available:

“Jenny is great. We discuss it together but she kind of just lets me do what I want, really! She trusts my instincts and my racing brain; I’ll say to her, ‘if I think this will happen [in the race], I’ll do this and this’ and she’ll say ‘I agree, you do that!’. Of course, she has lots to input, and I’m really grateful to have her in my corner and in my team. It couldn’t be any largest of a set up, I don’t think”.

Jenny Meadows, 2014 Sainsbury’s British Championships. Photo: Simon Balson / Alamy Stock Photo

Superb Scot

I mentioned that three Brits had bettered Keely’s 1:59.03 indoors; the athlete at the top of that list is Jemma Reekie, thanks to her simply incredible 1:57.91, a time that no one else has come within half a second of, and a performance she did not largest outdoors until this month (more on that later). She may be four years older than Keely but Tokyo will moreover be Jemma’s first Olympic experience, and the opportunity is something she is relishing:

“It took a while for me to believe that I was unquestionably going to the Olympics! I’m just so excited to be here. From a very young age I’ve wanted to run at the Olympics and it feels like it has been ten years in the making”.

A torchbearer in 2012 (“it was a huge thing for me, I remember the day so well and without doing it really made me want to go to an Olympics”), it’s been quite a journey for the 23 year old through the sport, a large proportion of which has been spent with training partner Laura Muir and mentor Andy Young, a partnership that has reaped plenty of rewards:

“Andy’s an wondrous mentor and he does very well to put us in positions that we can perform to our weightier no matter what. He’s very good at planning and trying new things and preparing us to be the weightier we can in any conditions or situation”.

Strong Performances

Indeed, racing to deal with any situation is something Jemma has shown an worthiness for in 2021. This year she has raced nine times over 800m and has not finished outside the top two in any of those races. In all bar one, her outdoor season opener in Oregon in April, she has run 2:01 or quicker, something she had only washed-up twice prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her run up to the Olympics culminated with an incredible 1:56.93 clocking at the Monaco Diamond League three weeks ago, coming second a shade overdue her training partner Laura Muir (“a huge conviction boost, I’ve never been through the tintinnabulate so fast, or when I have I’ve died off”).

It is a time that only four athletes have bettered in 2021 and puts her third on the British all-time list overdue Laura and Kelly Holmes. Naturally, it has helped to glue her weighing that breaking the British Record is firmly within her ability:

“It’s definitely been on my mind for the past two years. It’s something that I would really love to do, but you’ve got to respect how well Kelly has run; she ran it in an Olympic final and she won gold – she was an wondrous athlete”.

Student of the Sport

Her love of the sport, both as an athlete and fan, have put Jemma in a good position when it comes to preparing for races, whilst moreover making sure to take in a relaxed tideway to each race as it comes, particularly for her first Olympics:

“I watch a lot of variegated races. I’ve watched every loftiness race from London 2012 from 800m to 10000m, male and female. That’s the first Olympics I remember. I’m unchangingly watching athletics and I’m unchangingly trying to learn. To me, it’s not really studying or work, I just stick athletics on and watch it with my family, who love watching it as well. I just enjoy the athletics and am learning at the same time. I’ve just been athletics crazy since a young age! I’m unchangingly trying to guess what people’s strengths are and if they’ve gone too early or left it too late. I’m trying to learn as much as I can, expressly superiority of this year”.

However, she is keen to stress that, whilst she has upper expectations for the trio of British girls racing over 800m in Tokyo, this does not midpoint she is worldly-wise to fully predict what will happen come race day in Japan:

“All the British girls should be aiming to reach the podium, we’re all up there and we could all do it. Everyone on the start line deserves to be up there, it’s just who can do it on the day. You never know until you’re in the race and see what happens, considering every race is different.

I think I’m very well known for just running and not thinking well-nigh much. I don’t think well-nigh splits, I don’t squint at the clock, I just run. I’m trying to learn to be increasingly patient and stay relaxed, and I really finger that over the past year or so I’ve really been relaxing into my races and finger comfortable”.

Credit: James Rhodes

Olympic Experiences

An Olympics offers plenty to wits vastitude an individual’s race, expressly for two athletes making their debut. Getting to support her teammates is one thing that Keely is much looking forward to in her Japanese adventure, slantingly the new name that comes with such an experience:

“I think just stuff worldly-wise to say you’re an Olympian is kind of cool! I am looking forward to wearing the kit and just seeing what the others in the team will do. We’ve got such a strong team going out, expressly over the middle distances.

I can’t wait to watch Dina do her thing in the sprints and relays, and plane the other events like swimming and gymnastics. I’m looking forward to getting to know other people as well and seeing everyone else’s sports”. Jemma echoed similar sentiments:

“I’m just really excited as it’s a whole new wits for me. I’ve never been at a competition with so many variegated sports, the only competition I’ve been to with other sports is the UK School Games which was a long, long time ago! I’m just excited to learn well-nigh other sports whilst I’m here as well”.

Both may be looking forward to other races and sports, but I am very much looking forward to seeing how her races over two laps unfold. The 800m heats take place from 02:25 on Friday morning. Keely goes in Heat 4 (02:49), Alex in Heat 5 (02:57) and Jemma in Heat 6 (03:05). Semi-finals are at 12:50 on Saturday, and the final 13:25 on Tuesday 3rd August.