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Keely Hodgkinson’s camp moved swiftly to play down concerns after the Olympic 800m champion withdrew from the 400m start line in tears just seconds before she was due to race at the UK Athletics Championships.
Using the weekend in Birmingham as a speed-work opportunity, Hodgkinson emerged for the women’s 400m final and began the usual pre-race strides in her lane, only to stop, grimace and slowly make her way to the side of the track. After a few seconds of thought, she crouched down and started to cry before she was led away, with the race going ahead in her absence.
She later provided a statement saying: “I wasn’t feeling 100% standing on the start line, so I made the tough decision to step away and not race. I didn’t want to risk anything ahead of this summer.”
Her coaches insisted the withdrawal was precautionary before an attempt at the longstanding 800m world record later this summer. They suggested the problem was muscle tightness, which had emerged at the end of her warm-up just before Sunday’s race.
Hodgkinson has recent experience of serious injury after missing much of the 2025 season because of tearing a hamstring in February that year. She belatedly returned to action in mid-August, but could only win bronze at the world championships.
Minutes before her withdrawal, Hodgkinson’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell had run a championship record 1min 55.93sec to claim the 800m title.
“I’ve only just found out,” said Hunter Bell, when asked about Hodgkinson. “I’m not sure what’s up because she was warming up really well. We were warming up together and she was looking amazing. She knows she’s in really good shape.”
Hodgkinson has been open about hoping to break Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old 800m world record of 1:53.28 this summer. This month she lowered her own national record in her only 800m outing, running 1:54.33 though losing to Audrey Werro in Stockholm, and had hoped to sharpen up her speed in Birmingham this weekend.
She had qualified fifth fastest for Sunday’s 400m final after clocking 51.62 a day earlier. In her absence, Amber Anning, the British record holder and a former world indoor champion, claimed gold in a championship record 50.16.
Hodgkinson is next due to race over 800m at the Eugene Diamond League in Oregon on 4 July, before a potential tilt at the world record on home soil at the London Diamond League on 18 July.
With Hodgkinson not contesting her preferred event in Birmingham, Hunter Bell was unchallenged in a dominant front-running display, the world silver medallist leading from gun to tape. Now third in the world this year behind Hodgkinson and the rapidly improving Swiss athlete Werro, she will also compete over 800m in London.
Asked about her own proximity to a world-record challenge, Hunter Bell said: “I’ve realised over the last few years that there’s no point putting limits on anything. Everything is getting faster and faster. Today was a frontrunning job on my own after a round yesterday, so it makes me really confident going into London. I feel like all the times come when there’s a good race. The better the race, the faster the time will be.”
Just before the Hodgkinson drama, the men’s Olympic 400m silver medallist, Matt Hudson-Smith, regained the British title in 44.45, dedicating his Father’s Day triumph to his daughter, whose difficult birth caused him to miss last year’s championships.
“Last year, there were a lot of complications,” he said. “It was a whirlwind. I was at the hospital bed for five days straight due to my wife’s birth, and then when I got to the world championships I was injured.
“It was a bit tough. But it’s part of the sport. My coach said I should make a statement to show that I’m back.”
There was a shock in the women’s 200m, where the world silver medallist, Amy Hunt, was unable to replicate Saturday’s 100m victory. With Dina Asher-Smith not contesting the final, Hunt was beaten by the 21-year-old Success Eduan, who clocked a huge personal best of 22.43 for her first national outdoor title. Pipped to the 100m crown by Romell Glave on Saturday, the British record holder, Zharnel Hughes, made amends with a comprehensive men’s 200m victory in 20.04. Jake Wightman took men’s 800m gold after a battle in the straight with Ben Pattison.
