© Copyright – 2023 – Athletics Illustrated
British runner Jemma Reekie had a breakout race Sunday, July 23 during the London Diamond League meet in her specialty, the 800-metre distance.
Many of the 50,000 spectators who filled the stadium were there to see fellow Brit, Keely Hodgkinson race the 800m. She is the Tokyo Olympic, Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Eugene World silver medallist and the reigning European champion. The 21-year-old’s best of 1:55.77 is the national record set one month ago. Reekie has been on the cusp of that level but typically has finished 1-2 seconds back, which is close, yet so far in the realm of an 800m athlete.
Meeting record 🤝 #LondonDL title@JemmaReekie you star ⭐️pic.twitter.com/etdxqodLl3
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 23, 2023
Not this time, having run one of her fastest 800m races clocking a 1:57.30. The time was one thing; however, the way she did it was another. Sitting in the pocket of the leaders for much of the race, she appeared boxed in after the 600m point, but on the final turn saw an opening and pulled into lane 2 to push for the lead and finished with a gap between her and Jamaican Natoya Goule-Toppin and Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi. The two finished second and third in 1:57.61 and 1:57.62, respectively.
Reekie’s performance is a meet record and a season-best result. She has been very close to glory, taking bronze during the Tokyo Olympic Games, where she established her current personal best of 1:56.90. In that final, the now 25-year-old finished behind American Athing Mu, Hodgkinson and American Raevyn Rogers.
Hodgkinson was out due to illness. London was the final Diamond League meet before the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships. Reekie is now positioned well for the meet. Currently, she is ranked 11th in the world and on any given day in an 800m race, anything can and surely does happen.
Results
Women’s 800m
| POS | NAME | NAT | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | REEKIE Jemma | GBR | 1:57.30 MR SB |
| 2 | GOULE-TOPPIN Natoya | JAM | 1:57.61 SB |
| 3 | NAKAAYI Halimah | UGA | 1:57.62 NR PB |
| 4 | BISSET Catriona | AUS | 1:57.78 AR PB |
| 5 | SNOWDEN Katie | GBR | 1:58.00 PB |
| 6 | LAMOTE Rénelle | FRA | 1:58.64 SB |
| 7 | ROGERS Raevyn | USA | 1:58.98 SB |
| 8 | HURTA-KLECKER Sage | USA | 2:03.98 |
| DNF | HORVAT Anita | SLO | |
| DNF | LEMIESZ Aneta | POL | |
| DNF | WELTEJI Diribe | ETH | |
| DNS | HODGKINSON Keely | GBR |
Top-12 rankings
| 1 | Mary MORAA | 15 JUN 2000 |  KEN | 1436 | 800m |
| 2 | Keely HODGKINSON | 03 MAR 2002 |  GBR | 1419 | 800m [800m ind.] |
| 3 | Natoya GOULE-TOPPIN | 30 MAR 1991 |  JAM | 1394 | 800m |
| 4 | Ajee WILSON | 08 MAY 1994 |  USA | 1360 | 800m [600m ind.] |
| 5 | Sage HURTA-KLECKER | 23 JUN 1998 | USA | 1349 | 800m |
| 6 | Anita HORVAT | 07 SEP 1996 |  SLO | 1335 | 800m [800m ind.] |
| 7 | Halimah NAKAAYI | 16 OCT 1994 |  UGA | 1327 | 800m [800m ind.] |
| 8 | Catriona BISSET | 01 MAR 1994 |  AUS | 1315 | 800m [800m ind.] |
| 9 | Allie WILSON | 31 MAR 1996 | USA | 1314 | 800m |
| 10 | Rénelle LAMOTE | 26 DEC 1993 |  FRA | 1307 | 800m |
| 11 | Jemma REEKIE | 06 MAR 1998 | GBR | 1304 | 800m |
| 12 | Raevyn ROGERS | 07 SEP 1996 | USA | 1290 | 800m |
