'I'm in a good place' - Keely Hodgkinson looking forward to Birmingham Diamond League outing
BySportsbeat
Updated 20/05/2022 at 17:46 GMT
Dina Asher-Smith and Laura Muir headline a stacked Diamond League meet, while Keely Hodgkinson is looking to kick-start her season in Birmingham. "I took six weeks to get healthy and make my quads strong so hopefully it doesn't happen again," said Hodgkinson. "I do think everything happens for a reason and it's better that it happened then than in June."
Keely Hodgkinson
Image credit: Eurosport
World-class athletics is back in Britain and all four individual Tokyo Olympic medallists are aligned for the Muller Birmingham Diamond League.
The stage is a sparkling new Alexander Stadium, a new home for this generation of track and field stars.
For some, it has been a particularly rocky road to the start of an unprecedented season that takes in three majors in the space of a month.
Keely Hodgkinson crashed through Kelly Holmes' British record on the way to Olympic silver, a stunning entrance onto the big stage.
However, March's big comeback ended on a warm-up track in Belgrade as she withdrew from the World Indoor Championships with a thigh injury.
"I took six weeks to get healthy and make my quads strong so hopefully it doesn't happen again," said the 20-year-old. "I do think everything happens for a reason and it's better that it happened then than in June. I just moved on from it and I'm in a good place."
Hodgkinson headlines the meet-closing 800m, the only sub-1:56 runner in the field, pointing to a morale-boosting victory for the reigning Diamond League champion.
"I'll attack it and see who goes with me," she said.
After finishing sixth at London 2012 and fifth in Rio, Holly Bradshaw finally vaulted onto the Olympic podium with bronze in Tokyo.
A tenacious competitor indoors, the Lancastrian missed Belgrade and the whole winter season due to 'health, body and mental challenges.'
Bradshaw said: "I've had a really challenging nine months and it has tested my motivation, but I absolutely love the sport.
"Having jumped a PB that I worked on for nine years and secured an Olympic medal, it has ticked every box I could ever dream of.
"I'm entering this new phase where I feel weightless, I feel carefree and I've earned the right to just enjoy every moment."
In a discipline where the top competitors never shy away from facing one another, four of the nine members of the 4.90 club will jump in Birmingham.
They are Bradshaw, Olympic champion Katie Nageotte, Sandi Morris and Katerina Stefanidi.
"It's a testament to who we are as people," she said. "We're all really good friends. We hang out after meals and I'm playing board games with them this evening.
"We're not scared of each other and we push each other on. It means when you get to the majors, you can focus on yourself, you're not worried about what each other are doing."
Laura Muir, who missed the indoor season with a back injury, opens her season over 1500m alongside training partner Jemma Reekie.
Reekie missed a medal by nine hundredths of a second on Olympic debut and returns having been struck down with glandular fever over the winter.
If challenges for this crop of athletes came post-Olympics, they arrived for Dina Asher-Smith at the worst possible time.
Asher-Smith's hamstring gave way last summer but she still returned with relay bronze, and began her campaign with a solid 200m at the Doha Diamond League last week.
The 26-year-old tops the bill in the 100m at the start of a season where she has five major titles to defend - above all, she wants to reimpose herself on the sprint scene.
"It's been a long time since I ran a PB, and I tend to PB year-on-year," she said. "I'm confident in how much of a different person and athlete I am since 2019.
"When I peak, which is Championship time, it will be amazing to lay down some really good times and performances."
Asher-Smith plans to double up in Eugene at the Worlds, but may be more selective over her programme at the Commonwealth Games and Europeans.
She is clearly itching to showcase her progress in the short sprint.
"I've worked on so many elements of my 100m over the past few years," she said. "That's what we were doing in late 2020 lockdown, just technical elements.
"I'm excited to get some races together so you can get back into the rhythm of it and show how much I've changed technically and how much stronger I've got.
"This is only my first one, but I was always going to be here and I hope to put in an amazing performance in front of a home crowd."
Lowering her British record marks of 10.83 and 21.88 is an ambition, but Asher-Smith has her eyes on the line, not the clock, this season.
"Records are lovely but it's the global stage I want to be doing stuff on," she said. "I'm not really a time person, I've never been one to throw out times. They are never my priority coming into a season, I just want to come and do well at Championships."
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