Olympic and world indoor champion Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) – the world indoor 800m record holder with 1:54.87 – will race over 800m at the Novuna London Athletics Meet on Saturday 18 July.
It will mark a welcome return to the London Stadium for the 24-year-old who made history at the 2024 event with a meeting record, national record and personal best of 1:54.61, moving her from tenth up to sixth on the world all-time rankings.
It was also the perfect preparation for Paris where she went on to win Olympic gold, adding to a fast-growing CV that now includes Olympic silver (Tokyo 2021), a world indoor title, four senior European titles and three outdoor World Championship medals.
Hodgkinson was due to compete in London last year but was forced to delay her much-anticipated season-opener as she continued to make her way back to full fitness after two serious hamstring injuries. Remarkably, she still ended her season with a World Championships bronze medal and victory in her only Diamond League appearance of the year in her second-fastest time ever (1:54.74).
She has been exceptional in 2026 to date, most notably breaking Jolanda Ceplak’s long-standing women’s indoor 800m world record (1:54.87) and winning her first world indoor title.
“I had such an amazing indoor season and I’m full of gratitude to be healthy, happy and to have such amazing people around me,” said the M11 Track Club athlete. “I didn’t get the chance to show what I was fully capable of last year but with such a great atmosphere in London I know I’ll make the most of the opportunity. I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
There are just 50 days to go until the Novuna London Athletics Meet, the world’s biggest one-day athletics event and the eleventh meeting of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League. The series comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field across four different continents and began in Shanghai/Keqiao on 16 May (as a result of the Mazzraty Doha Meeting being rescheduled from 8 May to 19 June). It concludes with a single final across two days in Brussels (4-5 September).
Buy your tickets now: https://www.britishathletics.org.uk/events-and-tickets/novuna-london-athletics-meet-2026/
