Tokyo Olympics: GB’s Keely Hodgkinson wins silver behind USA’s Athing Mu
| Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
Nineteen-year-old Keely Hodgkinson won a sensational 800m silver medal at the Olympic Games in a new British record of one minute 55.88 seconds as US teenager Athing Mu took gold.
Hodgkinson looked shocked by her achievement, saying “that is mental” in response to being told she was an Olympic silver medallist.
Great Britain came close to bronze too, but Jemma Reekie was edged out by American Raevyn Rogers by 0.09s.
Mu, also 19, finished in 1:55.21.
The teenagers promise an exciting future for the event as Mu’s time was the fourth fastest in history, while Hodgkinson’s was eighth fastest.
It was the first time three British women had ever qualified for an Olympic 800m final, with the third of the trio, 28-year-old Alex Bell, finishing seventh in a personal best of 1:57.66.
Hodgkinson’s success rounds off an incredible breakthrough season in which she became European indoor 800m champion in March before claiming a shock win over Reekie and Laura Muir at the British trials in June.
Muir later decided not to run the 800m at the Olympics, allowing Bell to come in as a replacement, and will instead focus solely on the 1500m.
More to follow.
