Keely Hodgkinson says freak canal fall wrecked her 800m world record bid

Keely Hodgkinson says a freak fall on a canal path in July ruined her bid to break the women’s 800m world record this summer.

The 24-year-old Olympic champion had planned to attack the record after a flying start to 2026. She will instead close her season at the Athlos meeting in London on Friday 18 September, carrying a hamstring tear. The Guardian

Hodgkinson was on an easy cooldown jog beside a canal when she tripped on a metal grill. She could not get her hands down in time. Her knees were left bloody and her back was jarred, in an impact her team likened to whiplash.

It was a cruel interruption. She had broken the indoor world record in February, won the world indoor title in March, then set an outdoor personal best in June. The outdoor 800m is two laps of the track, and the world record is the fastest mark ever officially ratified for the distance. That mark had looked within reach.

Her summer then turned uneven. She was beaten by Kenya’s Lilian Odira at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, the circuit of elite international track meets that shapes form through the season. Then came the European Championships in August, where a rival’s fall in the women’s 800m semi-final led to a reinstatement and added to a tense week.

Hodgkinson felt a twinge about 10 minutes before the European 800m final, then tore her hamstring in the race itself. She believes the canal fall contributed to the injury, with the jolt to her back upsetting the chain of muscle and movement behind her stride.

Scans have added another twist. An MRI last year, after a previous tear, showed she has a split hamstring tendon. That means she has two tendons where most people have one, a rare anatomical detail that can complicate both injury and rehab.

She disclosed the torn hamstring in early September after finishing second in a race. She now heads to StoneX Stadium as defending champion and headline act at Athlos London, the all-female meeting that also features American sprint stars Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson. Endurance Sportswire

For fans, this means a change of lens. No record on Friday. Watch instead for how she moves, how she finishes, and whether she can sign off a brilliant, broken year on her own terms.