Coach Trevor Painter and Keely Hodgkinson on learning to deal with success, the potential still to be realised and the path towards Olympic 800m gold in Paris
Searing speed. A grit and determination to push herself to greater heights. Good, old fashioned natural ability. These are all reasons for Keely Hodgkinson’s Olympic 800m rivals to be fearful. Her coach Trevor Painter has identified another, though.
“We’re starting to see the old Keely again,” he smiles. “She has definitely come to terms with things. She is a lot bubblier, happier and effervescent again.”
That has not always been the case since the then 19-year-old sped into the sporting spotlight at the Tokyo Games three years ago, breaking the British record as she flew down an inside line to secure 800m silver.
After that race her world, and Painter’s, changed almost instantly. Hodgkinson went from the unknown of whom little was expected to being one of the biggest British success stories of those Games. She recently admitted to having experienced a period of depression as she tried to come to terms with the post-Olympic comedown and her new status as a young woman in demand.
Hodgkinson is a keen Manchester United fan and Painter draws parallels to Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary manager at Old Trafford, when discussing how he and his wife – fellow coach and former international athlete Jenny Meadows – tried to help her deal with it all.
“She has been through some tough times in the last couple of years but it’s hard to come to terms with all of that at a young age,” he says. “We see it in football, with young kids bursting on to the scene. I know Fergie was always really good at protecting Ryan Giggs in the early days and didn’t want him to have much attention.
“Suddenly you’ve got all these people wanting to talk to you and money on the table for this, that and the other, and it can be daunting when you are trying to train and run. She has managed it really well.”
Keely Hodgkinson wins silver in Tokyo (Getty)
Painter believes a happy athlete is a fast athlete and by that measure Hodgkinson’s recent performances would suggest a high level of contentment. The 22-year-old has got back into some old habits, such as winding her fellow training partners up, laughing and joking again.
There has been nothing funny about her work on the track in 2024, though. Fuelled by the frustration of silver medals at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships when a global title felt very much within reach, not to mention a winter disrupted by serious injury, the reigning European champion has been on a mission this summer.
She opened her season in May at the Prefontaine Classic and surged to a then world lead of 1:55.78, beating world champion Mary Moraa in the process. A successful defence of her European title in Rome followed and, going into Paris, Hodgkinson is still the fastest woman over 800m this year after a spectacular send-off at the London Diamond League that saw her destroy her own national record with a time of 1:54.61.
“I think you can see it in my performances,” she says when asked if that series of silvers is helping to drive her on. “When I stepped out in Eugene I was really determined to get the win there. That was a good opportunity to see where we were at. Going into London I just wanted to give it my all. To knock 0.7 off my national record is just so great. The way I ran it as well, leading the whole way, I think there could be more in there. It shows how much work I’ve put in and how much I want it.”
There is, Painter says, more to come. It’s easy to forget that Hodgkinson is still only 22 and with plenty of scope for development. He first came across her at the track in Leigh, Greater Manchester, albeit in an event at which she was less naturally gifted.
“She was competing for her school,” says Painter. “They’d put her in the shot put and she’s not got the biggest arms, but she did all right. I remember saying she looked like Lynsey Sharp, who was Jenny’s big rival at the time. She stuck in our mind, though. She was Keely then – playful, having a laugh with her mates, she’s very social. A few years later we started talking with her mum, who was asking for a lot of advice.”
The rest is history and now Painter finds himself as mentor to an athlete he believes could be on the verge of making history in more ways than one. The controversial mark of 1:53.28 by Jarmila Kratochvilova, set in 1983, remains as the world record but it is a figure that is starting to come into the realms of the possible for Hodgkinson.
“When she ran 1:54 in London, I jokingly said to her dad: ‘You know, she’s only going to peak between 27 and 31 years old’,” says Painter. “My philosophy is that we start with speed and we’re working more like a 400m runner at the moment. We’re not doing anywhere near as much mileage as some people, but that will filter in once she gets to, say, 24. If we can keep the speed and develop the aerobic side as well, that’s when we’ll go really quick.
“With shoe technologies developing the way they are, she already thinks she can run 1:53, which is fabulous to have that belief and I believe she can. Before she retires, she’ll run 1:53 – whether she gets the record, we’ll see, but we’ll give it a go.”
Trevor Painter and Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)
The footwear is indeed playing its part in the rapid advancement of middle distance times and Hodgkinson will line up on a purple Mondo surface in Paris that is being trumpeted as being even faster than the Tokyo track that saw records tumbling.
On her feet will be Nike’s Victory spikes, a shoe that she had previously avoided – opting for first the Dragonfly and then Maxfly – but has played a part in developing.
“We have done a lot of talking and innovation with the Nike team in Oregon over the past two years,” she says. “[They asked] ‘Why don’t you wear the Victory?’ Well, because they’re not very good. The old ones weren’t as stable and my foot moved around a lot.
“It was really cool to be involved in those conversations with the creative people behind the scenes making the shoes and how they want to really benefit the athletes. So I put the new ones on and they were great. I wear them all the time now.”
Those same meetings provided a glimpse into the future of footwear. To some, technological advancements are wreaking havoc with athletics. To Painter, however, it is to be embraced.
“We have seen some prototypes of what’s coming up soon and they’re like something from Back to the Future,” he says. “They are a bit weird, but they’ll probably set the word alight when they come out in the next few years.
“Without this progression in the technology you wouldn’t see the times that we’re getting. I do feel sorry for the athletes from the past because that didn’t have those shoes. What could they have done if they had them as well?
“It’s an exciting time for the sport and there’s a lot of ingenuity going into the way the tracks are laid, too, because it helps you. On some tracks you wouldn’t go anywhere near as quick if you went in the wrong direction because it’s set up to propel you.
“Everything’s designed to help the athletes run faster so it’s good to welcome that sort of technology in.”
(Getty)
It will certainly be a talking point in Paris, though it’s Hodgkinson’s ambition to be the one creating the headlines again. With defending champion Athing Mu having failed to qualify for Team USA, the path to gold is a little clearer, albeit the likes of Moraa and also Hodgkinson’s Team GB colleague Jemma Reekie will be planning to have a say in the medal shakedown.
But when asked if he thinks his athlete is prepared for the even greater attention that will come her way were she to come out on top, Painter jokes: “It just means she can buy more Louis Vuitton handbags, so she’ll be happy.”
However, he adds: “She is still very young but she has matured massively. She said herself that when she won that medal at the Olympics, it was like she has lost like five years of childhood, or her teenage years, because she got thrust into this other world. But, like I said, she has now come to terms with it and I think she’d be fine now.”
It will indeed be a different version of Keely Hodgkinson that stands on that Olympic start line this time around. What would 2024 Keely say to her 19-year-old self?
“That’s a deep question,” she responds. “I wouldn’t believe I’m in this position now, even being 19 and doing what I did then. I’m still kind of the same person – just wanting to do my best, training really hard and seeing how fast I can really go. I wouldn’t say much, just keep doing what I’m doing really. It’s worked out so far.
“It’s trusting the process and the team. It’s easy to get carried away with comparison and wondering what other people are doing. From what I’ve done, every year I’ve trusted Trevor and we’ve ended up in the right place at the right time. I’m stronger and faster each year. I’m really grateful for that. Long may it continue.”
Painter takes heart not only from the performances he’s seen from Hodgkinson but also some of the circumstances in which she’s produced them. She stubbornly defied doctor’s orders, for example, in deciding to contest that European final in Rome in June when she was suffering with a head cold and sore throat. It was a risk, given that it could have resulted in an unhelpful defeat but she was not to be denied.
“There’s something special about Keely,” says Painter. “She’s very strong when she wants to do it. She almost manifests situations and performances. When she believes in herself, she’s very, very hard to beat, so you just keep her happy and healthy and let her do the rest.”
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