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During a 2021 interview with Athletics Illustrated, 800-metre Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson and her coach Jenny Meadows said that she wanted to improve her 400-metre time. Her primary competitor in the 800m event, Athing Mu, and others have run faster over the one-lap distance race. At the time, Hodgkinson had a best of 52.91 seconds.
Hodgkinson, a 22-year-old British athlete, set a new 400m personal best at a meet in Citta di Savona, Italy on Wednesday clocking 51.61 seconds to finish in second place. She finished second behind Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley, who finished in 51.43.
— SportMedia (@SportNMedia) May 15, 2024
Taking third was Miranda Charlene Coetzee of South Africa in 52.10.
Hodgkinson did get down to 51.76 at the 2023 European U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland.
Hodgkinson owns a best 800m time of 1:55.19, which is the British record. Hodgkinson has finished second at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships and Birmingham Commonwealth Games. She did earn gold in the 2023 European Championships and the 2021 Diamond League finale.
American Mu has run the 400m as fast as 49.57 and owns a personal best of 1:54.97. It was Mu who earned gold in the Tokyo Olympic Games and 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships. In Budapest last year, Mu proved mortal with a third-place finish during those World Championships. But Kenyan Mary Moraa won in Budapest. She owns bests of 50.38 and 1:56.03.
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are just 71 days away.
Results
Pos. | Name | Nat. | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Sharlene MAWDSLEY | IRL | 51.43 |
2. | Keely HODGKINSON | GBR | 51.61 |
3. | Miranda Charlene COETZEE | RSA | 52.10 |
4. | Anna POLINARI | ITA | 52.27 |
5. | Ilaria Elvira ACCAME | ITA | 52.94 |
Rebecca BORGA | ITA | DNF |