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After Olympic gold on Monday night, Keely Hodgkinson and her coaches immediately set their sights on one of the longest-standing world records in athletics history.
Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983 and Nadezhda Olizarenko in 1980 remain the only women to break 1min 54sec for 800m but, in an era of super spikes and super tracks, there is a belief that Hodgkinson has the special talent and dedication to finally threaten times set during an era of Eastern Bloc dominance. What we might call ‘Project 1:53’ is under way.
Hodgkinson ran 1min 54.61sec at the London Diamond League immediately before Paris and the training data since has suggested that she is already capable of surpassing Caster Semenya and leaping from sixth to third on the all-time list.
Kratochvilova, the Czech athlete, set a world record of 1min 53.28sec is probably still out of range but, at the age of only 22 and a training programme that has been designed for the long term, there is confidence that she can at least get very close.
“She’s always said, quite shyly, that ‘I want to be one of the greatest ever’,” says Jenny Meadows who, with husband Trevor Painter, has guided Hodgkinson’s career. “She’s sixth of all time. Trevor and I believe she is in the shape to be third of all time. We believe she can run high 1min 53sec at the moment. Over the next couple of years she can get down towards that world record if she stays healthy, motivated and still enjoys it, which I’ve got no doubts about.”
Hodgkinson agrees. “It’s definitely a goal,” she said. “I’d love to give it a good go. There’s more in there. When you’re at the top of your game, why not? After the 1.54, training got better and better and there were sessions that indicated there was so much more there.”
While Meadows, who is a former world and European medallist, has more of a mentoring role, Painter designs the training plans and crunches all the numbers daily on an Excel spreadsheet. He has emphasised the development of speed early in Hodgkinson’s career but is gradually increasing the mileage every year. Although Hodgkinson has dabbled with the 400 metres – and even tried to get in the 4×400 metres relay squad here – there is a feeling that 1500 metres could also be a longer term option given her natural endurance.
“When she ran the 1.54 in London, I jokingly said to her dad: ‘You know, she’s only going to peak between 27 and 31 years old’,” said Painter. “We’re working more like a 400-metre runner at the moment – we’re not doing anywhere near as much mileage as some people. But that will filter in once she gets to, like, 24. If we can keep the speed and develop the aerobic side as well, that’s when we’ll go really quick.
“With shoe technologies developing the way they are, she already thinks she can run 1.53, which is fabulous to have that belief and I believe she can. Before she retires, she’ll run 1.53 – whether she gets the record we’ll see but we’ll give it a go.
“I just look at the practical side – what do I need out of them to get the physiological [adaptation] we need for the race. If the numbers add up, then I’m cool. For me, it is all about speed. You have got to get the mileage and volume done in a different way so you can keep the speed and quality.”
The Meadows-Painter training group has five athletes in Paris and their twice-daily training sessions in Manchester is a mixed group of 25. Just as he did when coaching Meadows, Painter believes that there is great benefit to having Hodgkinson training day in, day out with emerging male athletes.
“We need a production line of lads,” said Painter. “They help massively. When Jen was running it was the same. I used to like her being around a lot of boys because she was facing Russians and a lot of cheating, so the physicality of races back then was similar to racing boys. We try to make it a similar environment now so whatever Keely faces she’s prepared for it.”
Source Agencies
