Hodgkinson drops out of Keely Klassic meet with hamstring injury

Olympic 800-metre champion Keely Hodgkinson will miss the inaugural edition of her “Keely Klassic” indoor meet in Birmingham on Saturday due to a hamstring injury.

Hodgkinson was hoping to break Slovenian Jolanda Ceplak’s indoor 800m record of 1:55.82, which has stood since 2002, at the event but said she will now be cheering on the athletes from the stands.

“Yesterday I picked up a hamstring injury, which means I’ll have to sit this one out this weekend and not compete,” the 22-year-old wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

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“I’m devastated to be missing the launch of the first @keelyklassic, me and my team worked so hard these last couple of months to put me in a perfect position to race, and I was so excited to perform in front of a home crowd!”

The World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze meeting will feature men’s and women’s 60m, men’s 1,000m and women’s 1,500m races among several elite events.

A statement from the meet said that Hodgkinson will still try to compete in the World Indoor Championships in March.

“This is a heartbreaking setback, especially after getting herself into the best shape of her career,” the Keely Klassic said in a statement on social media.

“However, Keely is determined to make her presence felt in Birmingham on Saturday. The Keely Klassic was never just about one race or one athlete.”