Keely Hodgkinson’s coaches targeting world record after SPOTY glory
Hodgkinson was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Tuesday night with Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter winning the Coach of the Year award.
Keely Hodgkinson’s coaching team say they cannot rule out the newly-crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year breaking athletics’ longest-standing world record as soon as next year.
The 22-year-old collected a surprise 800 metres silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, then claimed gold in Paris this summer with the weight of the world’s expectations on her shoulders.
Hodgkinson posted a personal best of 1:54.61 at the London Diamond League meet in July but will have to find another gear to beat Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1:53.28, which has stood for 41 years.
“I wouldn’t rule (2025) out,” Trevor Painter, who alongside life and coaching partner Jenny Meadows runs M11 Track Club, told the PA news agency.
Painter and Meadows were awarded Coach of the Year at the BBC ceremony on a triumphant evening for the married couple, who also coached British Paris Olympic bronze medallists Georgia Bell and Lewis Davey.
Painter added: “Next year might be too soon, because it’s a big leap and there’s not many people at 1:54 let alone 1:53, but with the advances in shoe technology and the advances in track technology, and the advances in our growth as a team and as a unit and pushing Keely, then yeah.
“I mean, if the right race happens and she’s feeling in the right mood on that day, then there’s no reason why it couldn’t happen, but the next three to four years, we’ll be trying our best to make that happen and become that world record (holder).”
Meadows, who thinks 2026 might be a better target, added: “We’re definitely nudging our way towards it. A couple of years ago we would never have been looking at that world record thinking it was possible, but now you start getting a little bit giddy and excited, but trying to be realistic at the same time.
“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 picture “Queen Keely” Hodgkinson as the beaming athlete wearing the crown she accepted from a fan following her Olympic triumph.
Her coaches have seen more shades of a young woman Meadows describes as having a “what you see is what you get” personality, a savvy businesswoman with an excellent sense of humour who “doesn’t try to be someone she’s not”.
Last winter, Hodgkinson lost 10 weeks of running after a debilitating leg injury and was, recalled Meadows: “(At the) back of the training group, in tears. I’d never seen Keely so… she’s not a tearful person. She had to take herself to some very dark places during the winter to get back there.”
“People have seen the highlights, we’ve seen the journey,” said Meadows, who even recalls Hodgkinson’s training-mates saying: “There’s actually something really satisfying and empowering about seeing Keely go through those dark moments. It’s not all talent, is it? It’s hard work.”
Painter and Meadows admit M11 have been inundated with enquiries from more than 50 athletes, including some “high-profile” names.
Maintaining the right balance of personalities in the group remains essential, so any prospects are run by the current crop.
Meadows added: “It’s a perfect time in Keely’s life and a perfect time in our lives and careers. When Trevor was a younger coach, he wouldn’t have had that experience to have an athlete (like) Keely.
“We don’t actually feel nervous when we watch Keely run. It’s that level of composure which is innate. She just sees things as exciting. She doesn’t see them as precious, she sees them as a challenge.
“I think a lot of athletes have the potential, but there is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete who just comes ready to embrace it.
“She had to grow up very quickly, manage life outside of athletics. And then she comes to athletics and just thinks ‘this is my stage’.”
