GLASGOW (March 1) — British Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson set a new personal best of 51.49 seconds to win the women’s 400 metres invitational at the Scottish Athletics Indoor Invitational at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Sunday.
Making her first indoor 400m appearance since 2022, when she set her previous best, Hodgkinson produced a superb performance to lower her lifetime mark from 52.42. The result came as no surprise, as the 23-year-old has been in exceptional form this season after breaking the world indoor record for 800m on the short track last month.
“It’s been fun, exciting. I was excited to come and do a 400m here,” Hodgkinson said of her season so far. “I haven’t been able to do a 400m for a good two years due to injuries so it was a good day to complete one – and a good time to come with it.
“I like to consider myself a more 400/800m athlete and I still work on the 400m all the time, I just don’t get to race it often. To be able to fit one in was great and it’s also a bit of fun, sometimes constantly doing 800’s can get a bit much,” added Hodgkinson.
Starting from lane five, Hodgkinson made an aggressive start to lead after 200m before pulling away from the field in the closing stages.
The Olympic silver medallist set a world indoor record of 1:54.87 in Liévin on Feb. 19 and clocked 1:56.33 at the British Championships in Birmingham on Feb. 14.
Louisa Stoney finished second in 52.37 seconds, with Tess McHugh running a personal best of 52.48 for third. Isabelle Boffey rounded out the field in fourth with 53.27.
In the women’s 800m invitational, World Championships silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain opened her season with a commanding 1:57.80. Australia’s Catriona Bisset was a distant second in 2:02.40.
