Keely Hodgkinson’s throat felt like sandpaper, her head was thumping, and her sniffles were worsening by the hour. And, as she lay in her bed before the European 800m final, one question went through her head. Can I run?
It was a decision she left to the wire. But after a warm-up that involved loading up on First Defence, Aspirin, paracetamol and vitamin C, the brilliant 22-year-old decided to roll the dice. It was a move of guts and glory as she went from her sick bed to the top of the podium.
It was not pretty. It was not fast. But she found a way. On the final straight Slovakia’s Gabriela Gajanova threatened an almighty upset, but Hodgkinson dug deep to win in 1min 58.65sec. Her margin of victory? Just 0.14sec. No wonder she puffed her cheeks out at the end.
“It not been the greatest 24 hours,” Hodgkinson admitted. “I felt a little bit of a sore throat and sniffles yesterday in the warm-up. And then it got worse. I was lying in bed, thinking can I run?”
Hodgkinson was such an overwhelming favourite that a £33 bet on her to win would have yielded just a £1 profit. Yet such odds did not appear entirely crazy given the Briton’s personal best was three seconds clear of the field.
Yet few outside the British team knew that Hodgkinson was ill. In fact it was only in the call room, right before going on to the track, that she decided to run. Afterwards she agreed that her status as Europe’s best 800m runner had helped her to rope-a-dope her rivals.
“Sometimes when you are racing, you’ve got to think as much as you are nervous, they are also nervous to race you as well,” she said. “But I had to believe in the fact that I am the defending champion.
“I would have liked a better time but it was just about finding a way to win,” she added.
“You do think how much worse is it going to make me in two hours when I crash. But hopefully it has been worth it.”
There was a second gold for Britain on the final night of these championships as the women’s 4x100m team laid down a significant marker for the Olympics.
Dina Asher-Smith got Britain off to a flying start before a smooth hand over to Desiree Henry. Amy Hunt increased the lead before Daryll Neita brought the victory home in 41.91sec.
“It felt absolutely amazing,” said Neita, who admitted she was disappointed to only win women’s 200m silver on Tuesday. “It was a bit bitter sweet and then this morning, the ladies really picked me up. To finish the championships with a gold medal with these amazing ladies, it’s just an incredible feeling, really electric and I really have a good feeling going into Paris.”
Asher-Smith agreed, adding: “We’ve got such a deep squad and so many amazing athletes, we are just trying things out. That was great, it was so slick and so smooth.”
Elsewhere Jakob Ingebrigtsen sent out a warning to Josh Kerr as he defended his 1500m title in a championship record 3:31.95. The Norwegian took the lead after 600m and controlled the race before winning by 10 metres. No wonder he held one finger in the air like an emperor after completing the ‘triple double’ of 1500m and 5,000m gold in the last three European Championships.
Another reigning world champion, Mondo Duplantis, also looked hugely impressive as he cleared a championship record 6.10m – before narrowly missing out on the world record of 6.25m.
There was also a sensational performance from Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, whose huge 7.22m world leading distance gave her long jump gold ahead of Italy’s Larissa Iapichino.
Earlier in the evening there was a second gold medal for the Dutch star Femke Bol as the Netherlands won the 4x400m relay in 3:22.39 ahead of Ireland, who took silver in a national record of 3:22.71.
All in all it was a highly enjoyable championships, especially on the final two nights when the crowds came out in force. And it was only appropriate that the final event on the track ended with a dominant Italy victory in the men’s 4x100m.
It meant they finished these championships with a record 24 medals, including 11 golds. Britain ended up third overall with 13 medals, including four golds, four silvers and five bronzes.
