This year has been an uphill battle for Britain’s golden girl, Keely Hodgkinson. After her Olympic gold in the 800m last year, expectations towered over her, but fate had other plans. From back-to-back injuries to a grade-three hamstring tear and even a stomach bug, Keely’s 2025 season seemed doomed. At one point, she believed it was all over, but the fighter in her refused to quit. Against all odds, she stormed back to claim bronze at the World Athletics Championships. Yet, instead of praise, the medal drew backlash from fans, pushing Keely to finally stand tall and unapologetically defend her journey.

After clinching bronze in Tokyo, the athlete wasn’t in the mood to dwell on missed chances. Instead, she chose to unwind, heading straight to a lively Tokyo karaoke bar with family and friends for a night of laughter, music, and well-earned joy. She wanted to have a good time with her friends and family; however, netizens believed she was wasting her time as they called her out. However, all of the criticism means nothing to her for now, as the only thing she wants is to have a good time with her family.

“As much as I was disappointed, I wanted to cry and I was upset, I was also like ‘well, it’s done now, I can go and have a good time with my friends and family and with G (her training partner Georgie Hunter Bell) and with Trev (her coach Trevor Painter) and celebrate the fact that we made it through this terrible year. I think it’s really important that I went through it,” said Hodgkinson, as per the report of the Mirror UK. Well, despite everything, the trolling never stopped. Many went as far as to criticize her media appearances, endorsement deals, and even the simple joy of spending time with her friends.

But again, she refused to let this criticism bring her down, “There was this bunch of comments like ‘you should be embarrassed’, ‘what a let down of a show.’ And that’s obviously not nice – ‘oh, she’s too busy making TikTok videos’. There are so many hours to kill when you’re out there doing nothing. I’m like, ‘I’m going to do whatever I want’. I took one day to be sad about it, and then I didn’t think about it again.”

She was aiming for gold at the World Championships, but had to settle for bronze after enduring way too much. The result came at the end of a brutal stretch marked by one setback after another, a grade-3 hamstring tear, a re-aggravated knee injury, and finally, a strain in the opposite hamstring. Each setback felt like another attempt by fate to end her season before it even began.

Ahead of the World Athletics Championships, she was gearing up for her long-awaited comeback. Yet, even then, critics questioned her delayed return. Addressing the backlash, she said, “People were assuming I was doing nothing,” she explained. “And when you’re in a bad place anyway, negative comments stick out to you more. The human brain naturally looks for negativity, and what people think, even when it’s so far from reality. I like the block button. That’s my favourite.”

Many assumed Hodgkinson was just sitting idle, but the truth was far from it. Alongside her physio and coach, she was exhausting every possible method to ensure she could hit the World Championships at full strength, yet, despite their relentless efforts, nothing seemed to work.

Keely Hodgkinson reveals that she was not 100% in Tokyo

Just when Keely thought her injuries were finally easing, she met with an unprecedented situation. Her road to the Worlds turned chaotic; a sudden stomach bug and persistent neural pain from her recovery threw her preparation off track. Yet, true to her fighting spirit, Hodgkinson turned every setback into fuel, powering her way to a hard-fought bronze behind Kenya’s Lilian Odira in Tokyo.

While having a conversation with ‘High Performance’, the athlete revealed what was going through her mind on the day of the finale, “On the day of the final, you could see that I was not race-sharp, just because it’s that practice of running with people, it’s that not panicking, it’s just practice. And when you had that long out, maybe I underestimated a little bit, because I would be okay since I had two good runs.”

She further added, “But this year, the best way for me to run was just absolutely send it, because I hadn’t had the training I would normally have had to just sit back or do this, that. In itself, that was a bit of an under confidence. So I knew going into the final I was gonna have to be quick, because I didn’t have that change of pace that I normally would have had at the Olympics last year.” 

After clinching bronze at the World Athletics Championships, Keely returned to the tracks at Athlos NYC and effortlessly dominated the 800m, finishing in 1:56.53. Her victory brought home a $60,000 prize and a Tiffany & Co. crown, graciously presented by tennis icon Serena Williams. Keely Hodgkinson is making sure that she continues her winning streak.