Seb Coe is banking on Keely Hodgkinson to break athletics’ most notorious world record. The 800m Olympic champion, 22, ran the sixth-fastest time ever this year and has made it clear she eventually wants to better Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1:53.28, set in 1983.
That record is the longest-standing of all track events and has previously been described as untouchable. It arrived in a period where several countries, including Kratochvilova's Czechoslovakia, were later found to have run systematic doping programmes. Kratochvilova has always strenuously denied taking any banned substance and never tested positive.
Hodgkinson’s national record of 1:54.61 may just be a little more than a second behind the Czech’s but that is a significant gap over two laps. And World Athletics boss Coe said: “I’d love to see that for all sorts of reasons, actually.
I’d love to see it because she’s the real deal and we’ll leave you to surmise the other reasons. But I’d love to see her do that. “She’s already going to finish her career with something I never managed - an Olympic title at 800m.
I tried it twice so I take my hat off to her. “A second is a lot in athletics, it’s a huge gap but she has the scope and ability and the coaching structure as well. She is what I’d describe as an old-fashioned 800m runner and that may be helpful.
"She can bridge the gap but I don’t kid myself. One second is a distance but she has the ability to do it.” Coe considers Hodgkinson to a.
