by Keely Hodgkinson’s coaching team say they can’t rule out BBC’s new oldest world record of the year breaking athletics’ oldest world record of the year next.
The 22-year-old collected a surprise 800m of silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, then claimed gold in Paris this summer with the weight of the world’s expectations on his shoulders.
Hodgkinson posted a personal best of 1:54.61 at the London Diamond League meet in July, but will need to find another gear to beat Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1:53.28, which stands for 41 years.
“I would not govern (2025),” said Jenny Meadows Trevor Painter, who alongside life partner and coach Jenny Meadows runs the M11 Track Club.
Painter and Meadows were awarded Coach of the Year at the BBC ceremony in a triumphant evening for the married couple, who also coached British Olympic bronze medalists Georgia Bell and Lewis Davey.
Painter added: “Next year might be too soon because it’s a big jump and there aren’t many people at 1:54 let alone 1:53, but with the advancements in speedometer technology shoes and the advancements in track technology, and the advancements in our Growing as a team and as a unit and pushing Keely, then yes.
“I mean, if the right race happens and she feels in a good mood that day and become that world record (holder). »
Meadows, who thinks 2026 might be a better target, added: “We are definitely heading towards it. A few years ago we would have never looked at this world record and thought it was possible, but now you start to get a little giddy and excited, but trying to be realistic at the same time.
“Gold is the only currency she wants to work in now, and she has personal goals to win that world title. I think she looks at it like it’s really exciting, that we can make it physically into world record shape next year.
“1:53.28 is still a big, big gap. I know Keely would like to see a 1:53, even if it’s a 1:53.99. »
Many Britons now imagine “Queen Keely” Hodgkinson as a radiant athlete wearing the crown she accepted from a fan after her Olympic triumph.
Her coaches saw more shades of a young woman whom Meadows describes as having a “what you see is what you get” personality, a savvy businesswoman with a great sense of humor who “doesn’t try not to be someone she is not.
Last winter, Hodgkinson lost 10 weeks of racing after a debilitating leg injury and was recalled to Meadows: “(at the back of the training group, in tears. I’d never seen Keely so…she is not a tearful person. She had to take herself to very dark places during the winter to return there.
One photographer even wondered if she was going to Paris.
“People saw the highlights, we saw the journey,” said Meadows, who even remembers Hodgkinson’s training buddies saying: “There’s actually something really satisfying and empowering about seeing Keely going through these dark times It’s not all talent, is it?
Painter and Meadows admit M11 has been inundated with requests from more than 50 athletes, including some “high-profile” names.
Maintaining the right balance between group personalities remains essential, so that all perspectives are managed by the current culture.
Meadows added: “It’s a perfect time in Keely’s life and a perfect time in our lives and our careers. When Trevor was a younger coach, he wouldn’t have had that experience to have an athlete (like) Keely.
“We don’t really feel nervous when we watch Keely run. It’s this level of composure that is innate. She sees things as exciting. She doesn’t see them as valuable, she sees them as a challenge.
“I think a lot of athletes have the potential, but there is one unique athlete who just embraced it.
“She had to grow up very quickly, dealing with life outside of athletics. And then she comes to athletics and just thinks “this is my scene.” »
