Keely Hodgkinson smashes personal best as she starts year in style

The 22-year-old from Atherton, who is trained by Wigan duo Trevor Painter and his wife Jenny Meadows, claimed 800m silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, collecting the same medal in back-to-back global championships in the same event in 2022 and 2023.

On Wednesday, in Italy she clocked a 51.61 running half that distance, 72 days out from the opening day of this summer's Olympics in Paris.

She improved her previous best 400m mark from the 51.76 she ran at last year's European Under-23 Championships.

The result was good enough for a second-place finish in Savona behind Ireland's Sharlene Mawdsley, who crossed the finish line in 51.43.

It was the first race of the Olympic year for Hodgkinson, who broke Kelly Holmes' British 800m record in Tokyo which had stood since 1995.

Next up for Hodgkinson is a showdown with Athing Mu and Mary Moraa next weekend at the Prefontaine Classic.

Then it’s onto the European Championships in Rome early next month – which she is determined to give her full attention.

"I would like to win as many medals as possible in my career," she said recently. "And I think if I was to miss it (Rome), I’d be missing out on an opportunity.

"I’d love to look back on my career and say I did this many European Championships and I won this many medals. I don’t want anything to go to waste."