Keely Hodgkinson had already witnessed two opportunities pass her by. She had withdrawn from Diamond League showdowns in Zürich and Brussels with hamstring issues. But the Olympic champion proved doubters wrong by participating in the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. In fact, she walked away with $75,000 in prize money after finishing second in the 800m. 

“Keely Hodgkinson reveals that she tore her hamstring during the women’s 800m final at the European Championships. She only made the decision to run in Budapest last week,” insider Owen updated on X.

Hodgkinson suffered a 4.5 cm hamstring tear during the warm-up of the European Championships final in Birmingham last month. It happened just minutes before going into the call room.

As highlighted in the X post, she chose to run despite the injury. And she covered 800 meters in 1:56.26, taking just 0.38 seconds longer than her Swiss nemesis Audrey Werro. The latter set the championship record while Hodgkinson had to sit out the next two events.

“Unfortunately, the body isn’t quite ready to race again after the European Championships,” Hodgkinson said in a public statement before the Zürich Diamond League. “We’ve made the decision to skip this race and get ready for the next one. Sad to miss it, hopefully see you next year!”

She admitted before the inaugural championship in Budapest that she wasn’t sure whether she was going to be there.

“It was very much touch and go,” she said. “I was really going at it with rehab.”

She even missed the Brussels Diamond League on September 4-5. But then, just a week before the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, her track and field community was happy to learn that they would again witness the rivalry between Hodgkinson and Werro. 

“Well, it’s good news for Budapest after all,” Australian sports broadcaster and track-and-field journalist Mitch Dyer admitted after initially reporting that Hodgkinson would not compete. “Happy to see myself be wrong on this one, and apologies for being incorrect with my information.”

But instead of a duel, it became a three-way battle, with Femke Broeders-Bol, a former Dutch hurdler, also joining the contest. Keely Hodgkinson took 1:56.26 to reach the finish line on Saturday. Werro clocked 1:55.88 to claim $150,000. Broeders-Bol took a minute and 56.74 seconds to finish after Keely. 

While the recovery and finishing second are great feats on their own, the English runner lost to her nemesis again.

Werro has changed the equation for Hodgkinson

Keely started 2026 on a high note. She won the World Athletics Indoor Championships 800m title on March 22. But Werro flipped the narrative in the outdoors. They competed against each other at Stockholm back on June 7. While Hodgkinson ran a British record 1:54.33, Werro stormed past her in the closing stages, clocking 1:53.98 in the final. 

They faced off again in Birmingham in August. And Werro established herself as the fastest woman in that distance. Hodgkinson admitted that Audrey Werro had helped push her timing.

“She’s put together one of the best seasons in the women’s 800m ever,” Keely said about her rival.

This time, with Broeders-Bol, Werro came out on top once again. 

The Briton won half the prize money that Werro did. But that is not the highlight of the story. The way Hodgkinson pushed herself to participate in an international contest, that too with just a week ahead, is what defines her. And 800m is one of the hardest individual challenges in the sport. And facing the hottest runner, then taking silver, is as astonishing as it gets. 

Besides, the hamstring setback was hardly the first setback she faced in her career. At the age of 13, Keely Hodgkinson underwent surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor in her ear. It left her with about 95% hearing loss in her left ear, which affected her balance. 

Perhaps that history helps explain why another injury wouldn’t keep her off the track. And it only establishes her championship mindset, whether or not she won the gold.