Keely Hodgkinson wants her Olympic obsession to be everyone else’s, too
Keely Hodgkinson’s first-ever 24 hours in New York City had been fast-paced, which is saying something for someone who can run the half-mile between subway stops in less than two minutes.
She joked during her whirlwind visit about wanting to take a pedicab from Central Park to Times Square, perhaps unaware it would be a big change of pace — in the opposite direction.
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The reigning Olympic champion in the 800 meters is in town to compete in Athlos NYC, a star-studded track and field event happening Friday night at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.
The self-described “feisty British girl” is also intent on spreading the gospel of the sport that put her on the global stage as a teenager and in which she harbors the loftiest goals: to claim back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics in L.A. in 2028 and to take down a long-unassailable world record.
“It comes around every Olympics. Everybody falls in love with athletics for two weeks, and then it just goes unnoticed for the next four years,” Hodgkinson said in a sit-down with The Post on Wednesday. “And I think gearing up towards L.A., [the United States] is probably one of the best countries in the world in terms of trying to push our sport out there more. You guys have got the audience and the love for sport and the money to make it really cool, which is what we think it is.”
Athlos is part of tapping into that not-just-quadrennial spirit.
The women’s-only track and field event, created by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is back for its second edition this year. Gabby Thomas will miss out due to injury, but Hodgkinson is joined by U.S. long jump gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall and world-record miler Faith Kipyegon.
“I like the fact that it was kind of a celebration of women’s sports,” Hodgkinson said. “There’s a lot of stories out there, different athletes you can get to know, and I think it’s just putting ourselves and our stories out there.”
Hodgkinson’s story gained prominence with an underdog silver medal in the 800 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 at the age of 19. She followed up last summer in Paris with gold (“It’s literally a whole year for this two minutes to go perfectly, and it did,” she says now) that supercharged her profile — but a series of injuries sidelined her until she hurried back to earn bronze at last month’s world championships.
“I became Olympic champion and then didn’t step on the track for a year,” she said. “I want to be announced as Olympic champion on the start line. I want to do my job I work so hard to do. [But] my body, I cannot do it, and it was so frustrating at times, there were definitely a lot of tears.
“It will only make me a better athlete. If I can survive that and do well off that, when it goes smoothly and well, it should be flying colors.”
Which brings us to the chance to win repeat Olympic gold in three years’ time — Hodgkinson will be 26, “getting on to near my peak,” in her words — when the biggest meet in the sport descends on the city that’s synonymous with star power.
“I’m very fortunate to be running during this time and the Olympics coming into L.A., so I’m really excited about that,” Hodgkinson said. “I think everyone’s gearing up for that, they know it’s going to be special. So I’d like to go there, defend my title.”
Hodgkinson has another ambition, which hovers every time the British champion takes the track. The 800-meter world record has stood for 42 years, since Czechoslovakia’s Jarmila Kratochvílová ran a suspicious 1:53.28. Hodgkinson, the sixth-fastest ever in the event, owns a personal best of 1:54.61.
“It’s definitely something I think about now on a continuous basis,” Hodgkinson said. “I think the day that [record] falls will be a crazy day in the track and field world. It’s a hard record. … But I have seen things in training, and I know that is in there, but it’s just something that to come out you need everything to be perfect, mentally, physically, emotionally, the weather, the pace. So, yeah, we’ll see. I’ll give it a good look.”
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