SEB COE believes Keely Hodgkinson can be Britain’s greatest-ever athlete.
Hodgkinson is now in Japan for the World Athletics Championships — a year after she won Olympic 800 metres gold.
GettyKeely Hodgkinson has been backed to become Britain’s best athlete ever[/caption]
Instagram/keely.hodgkinsonShe is the current 800m Olympic champion[/caption]
Seb Coe thinks she could end her career at the ‘top of the heap’Sportsfile
Twice she has missed out on the world title over two laps.
But 23-year-old Hodgkinson remains determined to add the crown to her Olympic and European successes.
Given that the Leigh athlete also wants to break the 42-year-old world record in her event, then the sky really is the limit for the next decade.
Asked if she could become the greatest track-and-field star Britain has ever produced, World Athletics chief Lord Coe said: “Yeah, she absolutely could.
“I have no doubt about that. Absolutely, for sure. She could end up at the top of the heap internationally if she goes on.
“Touch wood, she’s got many athletics seasons ahead of her. And she’s also got good coaches in Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter.
“Those guys know what they’re doing. It’s a really good example of British coaching at its best.
“I have spoken to her enough times to know that, mentally, she’s mahogany hard. She really is.
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“She wants to end her athletics career at the top of the heap — and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t.”
Hodgkinson opened her season on August 16 having not competed for 376 days following two hamstring injuries.
And her time of 1min 54.74sec in Poland — the best in the world so far this year — was described by Coe as “unbelievable”.
In her next appearance, four days later in the driving rain of Lausanne, Switzerland, she posted a winning mark of 1:55.69.
British middle-distance legend Coe, 68, a double 1500m Olympic champion himself, admitted: “You just have to marvel at how she has come back.
“To be out injured and then basically you first set foot on the track and you’re running 1:54…
“We’ve been saying for a long time, she is the real deal. What was clever was doing two races back to back.
“She was clearly testing out a thesis: did she have enough in the tank to go back-to-back? That is what she’s going to be asked to do in Tokyo.
“The answer was a resounding ‘Yes’. She’s in good nick.”
The nine-day World Championships begin on Saturday and are being staged in the same national stadium which hosted the Covid-hit Olympics four years ago.
However, Coe insists there are contingency plans in place in case the event is impacted by typhoons in the Far East.
Severe weather saw three matches cancelled during the Rugby World Cup in Japan six years ago.
The British boss added: “Let’s hope there isn’t one!
“We do have full meteorological prediction and predictive teams out there at the moment.”
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