Keely Hodgkinson’s 2026 season has been far from easy. She sustained a grade 2C hamstring tear during the European Championships final, which ruled her out of the Zurich Diamond League and the Brussels final, and looked like the end of her season. But the Olympic champion returned at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, fueling speculation about how she managed to compete so soon after another setback. Now, Hodgkinson has confessed that a recent medical examination found an “abnormality” in her hamstring, which may have helped her remain on track.
At the Ultimate Championships, Hodgkinson finished second in the 800m final in 1:56.26, taking silver behind Audrey Werro, who won in 1:55.88. After the race, Hodgkinson opened up about how she was able to compete despite the hamstring problem. Speaking to reporters in Budapest on September 17, she explained the unusual finding that had already been discovered on an MRI.
An MRI scan taken in 2025 after a previous hamstring injury showed that the tendon in the affected area was split into two. “My body’s quite literally built different,” Hodgkinson said. “I have two tendons where the tendon tore last year. Where most people have one tendon, mine is split, so I have two.”
“So when one of them tore, I still had the other one because it’s split,” Hodgkinson explained. “It’s a weird one,” she added. “You can still run on them.” Still, Hodgkinson is not claiming that the unusual anatomy is simply an advantage. She admitted that she and her team are still trying to understand whether it is ultimately a strength or a weakness.
But this has also led Hodgkinson to change the way she trains while recovering. Rather than pushing hard on speed work, she has taken a more cautious approach and focused on strength. “I haven’t missed any training the last three weeks,” she said. “I’ve just had to alter my approach, take my foot off the speed, because that’s when it’s most risky, and go at it from a strength perspective.”
Despite the setback, Hodgkinson is not ready to close the book on her 2026 season. The Olympic champion is still set to compete in London at ATHLOS. She remains focused on the 800m world record of Jarmila Kratochvílová, which has stood for 43 years. But despite everything she has achieved, it feels like life has been anything but kind to Keely Hodgkinson since her Olympic triumph in Paris.
Keely Hodgkinson’s long fight to stay on the track
The biggest victory of her career was supposed to open a new chapter, but instead, the 800m star has faced one setback after another. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hodgkinson finally reached the top of the podium. She won gold in the women’s 800m after running 1:56.72 in the final. However, shortly after that, the injuries began.
In August 2024, Hodgkinson sustained a hamstring injury. Then again by February 2025, another hamstring injury happened that kept her away from competition for several months. Then in May, she suffered a right hamstring tear.
After 376 days away from racing, Hodgkinson finally returned in Silesia in August 2025. She clocked 1:54.74, one of the fastest 800m times ever recorded. Her comeback continued at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo where she won 800m bronze after an injury-hit season.
Then came March 2026, when Hodgkinson appeared to have turned the page. She won the World Indoor 800m title and set a world indoor record. But the setbacks returned. In June, Hodgkinson withdrew from the 400m final at the UK Championships after feeling hamstring tightness.
A month later, another accident added to her troubles. While preparing to race in Eugene, Hodgkinson suffered a severe fall during a training run in Manchester leaving her knees badly scarred. She still managed to reach the European Championships in Birmingham, where she finished second in the 800m behind Audrey Werro. Werro set a championship record of 1:54.81, while Hodgkinson ran 1:55.01. However, Hodgkinson paid another price as she suffered a grade 2C hamstring tear during the European Championships final. Yet Hodgkinson refused to stay away for long.