Keely Hodgkinson is “heartbroken” that her plans to try and smash the world indoor 800m record this weekend are in tatters.
The 22-year-old Olympic champion suffered a hamstring tear in her last training session ahead of the Keely Klassic in Birmingham.
“Things really came together well and just at the last second, it’s sadly been taken away,” she told Sky News’ sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao.
She would have backed herself to break the record and feels faster every year.
“That’s probably why this happened. Too much speed and the muscles can’t quite take it yet. Each year I’m getting stronger and stronger,” she said.
The longest-standing world record in track athletics is the women’s 800m, set in 1983 by Czech runner Jarmila Kratochvilova when she was 32.
At a time when there was systemic steroid use in Iron Bloc countries, she always denied taking anything other than vitamin B12. But no one has come close to breaking that record.
“If you’d asked me a year ago if [that] was possible, I may have said ‘no’,” said Hodgkinson.
“But seeing what I did in training last year and how well my body has come on and the technology we have in track and field now, I 100% think it’s possible.”
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She’s got her eye on “rewriting the history books” and beating that 42-year-long record.
“I look forward to having that as a really big target and seeing how fast I can go,” she said.
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Hodgkinson became the sixth fastest woman in history last year, just before she stormed the Paris Olympics and took home a gold in the 800m.
Thinking of the moment she crossed that finish line still gives Hodgkinson “goosebumps” and cheers her up on bad days, although setting goals also kept her motivated after Paris.
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“When we announced the Keely Klassic and going for the world record, [it] really helped give me something else to go for,” she said.
“So it made it even more heartbreaking when I couldn’t do it,” she said.
