Olympic and world championships silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson won the women’s 800m gold medal at the European Athletics Championships Munich 2022 after running 1:59.04 in the final on Saturday (20). Read More: When is the European Championships Munich 2022 and how to watch?
Hodgkinson, 20, who finished second at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, last month and again at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, England, earlier this month, finally secured her first outdoor gold medal to go with the European Indoor Championships title she won last year.
“I think it’s more of a mental thing coming into this being my third championships in four and half weeks, so, it’s definitely about picking myself up and focus,” the British star said. “It is still very tough competition out there, so I made sure I was on the ball. I am just happy I executed well, and managed to come away with a gold medal.”
Rénelle Lamote of France collected the silver medal after finishing fast down the home straight to cross the line at 1:59.49, with the bronze medal going to Anna Wielgosz of Poland who closed strongly also to hold off Swiss runner Lore Hoffmann and dipped under two minutes –clocking 1:59.87.
Rénelle Lamote Delighted With Her Silver Medal!
“I am so happy to win a silver medal here because the world championships went so bad for me,” delighted Lamote said during her post-race interview. “It was too hard for me in Eugene. I am so excited. I am over the moon because all the hard work paid off.
“At Eugene I caught Covid and the simple secret to recover then was to get rest, not to train. So before the European Championships, there was a lot of pressure for me, I said to myself that after having shown a bad side of myself at the worlds I really have to do it well here. This medal is wonderful.”
Anna Wielgosz also spoke about her performance and how she felt about winning the bronze medal.
“I am amazingly happy because I was about to retire,” the Pole revealed. “I didn’t have enough money to compete, I was paying for training camps and all other things by myself. I only have one sponsor – the city of Rzeszow – which I thank a lot for its incredible support! The race was really good, I am happy with it.”
Germany’s Christina Hering paced the pack through the opening 400m at a quality 58.60 and held the advantage until the 600m mark before she was overtaken by Hodgkinson and her British teammates Jemma Reekie.
Hodgkinson took control of the race with 200m left and then pull away from the field in the final 100m to win comfortably.
Reekie sat in a medal position with about 60m remaining, but the British runner wasn’t able to hold off the charging Lamote, Wielgosz, and Hoffmann and faded to fifth place in 2:00.31.
Her Great Britain compatriot Alexandra Bell ran 2:00.68 for sixth while Hering (2:00.82) withered all the way back to seventh just ahead of Ireland’s Louise Shanahan (2:01.64).
European Athletics Championships 2022 – Women’s 800m Final Results
Rank Name Result
1 GBRHODGKINSON Keely 1:59.04
2 FRALAMOTE Rénelle 1:59.49
3 POLWIELGOSZ Anna 1:59.87
4 SUIHOFFMANN Lore 1:59.92
5 GBRREEKIE Jemma 2:00.31
6 GBRBELL Alexandra 2:00.68
7 GERHERING Christina 2:00.82
8 IRLSHANAHAN Louise 2:01.64
