British 800m runner wins her heat with ease in Toruń but says she “hated” it!
Keely Hodgkinson showed on Friday morning (March 20) why she is one of the strongest favourites in any event at the World Indoor Championships in Poland. Controlling her 800m heat from the front, she cruised clear on the final lap to win comfortably in 2:00.32.
It is 29 days since she set a world indoor record of 1:54.87 in Liévin and the past month’s training seems to have gone well judging by her performance on the first morning in Toruń, although she admitted she didn’t enjoy the experience.
Hodgkinson passed 400m in 60.06 and 600m 91.31 before then drawing clear of her rivals.
Valentina Rosamilia of Switzerland finished runner-up in 2:01.15.
“I hated that so much,” Hodgkinson said. “With heats you just want to get through them and not mess them up and save energy.
“I’m glad that’s done with. It was slightly slower than we planned but the job got done and it doesn’t matter.”
Hodgkinson also had to deal with her luggage getting lost on the way to Poland although she was finally reunited with it the night before the race.
With Hodgkinson expected to lead in the final, the championship record of 1:56.90 held by Ludmila Formanová of the Czech Republic will be in danger.
Audrey Werro of Switzerland, who is expected to be Hodgkinson’s closest rival, was also impressive as she clocked 1:59.91 to win her heat.
Issy Boffey ran slightly quicker than GB team-mate Hodgkinson but she finished third in the final heat with 2:00.17 – earning a place in the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers – in a race won by Eloisa Coiro of Italy in 1:59.87.
Coiro ended up as the fastest of all the women’s 800m qualifiers with Werro next quickest and Gabriela Gajanová of Slovakia third best with 2:00.08.
In the women’s 400m heats, Lurdes Gloria Manuel of the Czech Republic led the qualifiers with 51.08 from Mette Baas, who set a Finnish record of 51.42, while Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was third quickest with 51.48.
Host nation hope Natalia Bukowiecka also qualified comfortably with 51.60 but British duo Louisa Stoney (52.24) and Yemi Mary John (52.28) went out.
Stoney said: “I really enjoyed the experience, and super proud to be out there representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The goal was the execute a little better than I did in that race but, I am still going to enjoy every moment and be proud of where I am.”
John said: “Not the race I wanted unfortunately. I was getting knocked by the Egyptian at the break, which I am not happy about. A bit of a hard fall at the end, but that is just the 400m.”