Keely Hodgkinson's daunting health battle and heartbreaking boyfriend split
Keely Hodgkinson has set her sights on claiming another gold medal as she gears up for the 800m final at the World Championships in Tokyo. The 23-year-old secured victory at the Paris Games last year and appears to have swiftly returned to peak form following an injury-plagued season.
Team GB superstar Hodgkinson delivered a stark message to her rivals last month when she recorded an outstanding 1:54.74 in her first outing for 376 days, coming close to her national record. The two-time World Championships silver medallist, who also earned silver in Tokyo at the 2021 Olympic Games, is determined to finally secure top spot in Tokyo and has even set a future target of challenging Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1:53.28 world record, which has remained unbroken for a remarkable 42 years. After advancing through her 800m heat earlier this week, Hodgkinson revealed that winning at the World Championships would hold greater significance than her Olympic gold. "It definitely means a lot, round by round, I'm hoping it goes my way," she told BBC Sport. "It would mean even more than last year, I'm just trying to embrace it all."
Hodgkinson seems to be welcoming the pressure as she pursues her maiden world title. Express Sport examines the 800m sensation's life beyond the athletics track.
Keely Hodgkinson's split from boyfriendThe Team GB star shot to fame following her Olympic triumph last year and even secured the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. Nevertheless, she did experience a personal setback at the start of 2024, sharing that a three-year romance with a fellow runner had ended due to the challenges of maintaining a long-distance relationship.
"He lived in Texas for a bit, then in Italy, then London. There was always a distance and, because I do what I do and put that first, we could go weeks, months and not see each other," she told The Times last October. "I'm not really interested in dating right now," she added. "I've never been on the apps. I like meeting people in real life."
It now seems that Hodgkinson was destined for sporting greatness, but she was compelled to overcome a significant obstacle during her teenage years. It was discovered that Hodgkinson required surgery to remove a type of tumour behind her ear that left her with long-term hearing loss and temporarily unable to walk due to the impact on her balance.
"I had a mastoidectomy which is from memory a type of tumour - but non-cancerous or anything, it wasn't majorly life-threatening - that had been growing for 10 years," Hodgkinson told Sky Sports in 2024.
"It crushed through my hearing bones and it was just touching my spine. So the risk for the operation was to take it out or keep it in. If you keep it in and let it grow, it can hit the spine and I could end up with Facial Palsy.
"Now that was quite scary for a 13-year-old girl to think that could happen, but the bones were already crushed anyway so they tried to save them but that turned out why I had a lot of hearing problems growing up."
She added: "I couldn't walk - which is weird to think - because it's in your ear, your balance and things like that. But luckily it all went to plan. They got rid of it and I'm just left with missing hearing. It's not too bad."
Hodgkinson is not the only sporting triumph story from Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley. Despite being a couple of years younger, Hodgkinson forged a close bond with future England and Manchester United midfielder Ella Toone, who has claimed two European Championships with the Lionesses and was part of the squad that reached the 2023 World Cup final.
"We are just two young girls living their dreams," Hodgkinson said in 2022, as per the Mirror. "Ella and I went to school together. She was two years older but somehow we ended up getting on really well.
"I was always referred to as the 'mini Ella' growing up at school. So we kept in touch from that and she was in Tokyo last year as well. We are just two young girls living their dreams."