Fast Women: Keely Hodgkinson returns with a bang
Faith Kipyegon gets agonizingly close to the 3,000m world record.
Issue 368
Keely Hodgkinson makes a statement
All season, there’s been talk of the fact that the women’s 800m is more wide open this year. The “big three” of years past—Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, Kenya’s Mary Moraa, and Athing Mu-Nikolayev—were all struggling in various ways. Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma had the world-leading time with a 1:56.64 from May, with Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell close behind (1:56.74). South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso, this year’s world indoor champion, was also expected to be a factor.
Due to injury, Hodgkinson, 23, hadn’t raced since she won Olympic gold in the event, so there was some uncertainty about what her return would look like, especially as the world championships crept closer and she still hadn’t opened her season. But at Saturday’s Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland, 33 days out from her opening 800m race at worlds, it took less than two minutes for Hodgkinson to erase any doubts about her fitness and maybe dash a few people’s hopes about winning gold in Tokyo next month.
One of the first signs that she was just fine was that the pace lights were set to 1:54.50, 0.11 seconds faster than Hodgkinson’s personal best, which is also the British record. She followed the rabbit through 400m in 56.7 before pulling away from the field over the final 300m. Her winning time, 1:54.74, was only 0.13 seconds off of her national record and her second-fastest ever. In the past seven years, no other woman has run faster.
The video she made after the race with her coach, Trevor Painter, was perfect. And while it’s not always realistic to expect an athlete to return from an injury at the top of their game, Hodgkinson has been known to open her seasons with quick times, and when she lines up, she is consistent in her excellence. Before she injured her hamstring, her plan was to open her season by taking a stab at the indoor 800m world record in February.
Hodgkinson said after the race that there was a period of time when she didn’t know if she would be able to compete at all this season, so she’s relishing the opportunity. “I think some people may have thought I was a bit delusional to [go after such a fast time], but sometimes you need to be a bit delusional,” she told reporters afterward. “We just knew it was in there and thought, ‘I don’t have five races [until] the world champs, I’ve got two.’ So it was a matter of making the most of the opportunity.”
Though the season hasn’t gone to plan, Hodgkinson said in a post-race interview with Athlos that she wouldn't change a thing. “There were definitely times that I was really upset and really angry, but I think you just learn how strong you are and I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe I needed that to come out with something like this, maybe my body needed a break, quite clearly.”
Hodgkinson will race another 800m at the Lausanne Diamond League meet on Wednesday, where she’ll face Hunter Bell (her teammate) and Sekgodiso for the first time this year. Then the next time we’ll see her will be in Tokyo, at the world championships.
Another nice thing about having Hodgkinson back is that she helped drag the rest of the field to fast times. Kenya’s Lilian Odira finished second in 1:56.52, a 1.79-second personal best. Botswana’s Oratile Nowe took third in a national record of 1:56.76. Raevyn Rogers took fourth in 1:57.52, her fastest time in nearly two years. And Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth, 20, finished fifth in an Oceanian record of 1:57.67, with fellow Australian Abbey Caldwell only 0.03 seconds behind her.
Because the 800m in Silesia was not a Diamond League event, the race fell outside the TV window. This happens all the time, and I wish broadcasters would find a way to show these high-demand events, or, ideally, the entire meet. But FloTrack has a full replay of the race here. (Silesia Diamond League results)
Faith Kipyegon runs the fastest 3,000m in decades
Also at the Silesia Diamond League meet, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon came agonizingly close to breaking Wang Junxia’s nearly 32-year-old 3,000m world record. The record was set under suspicious circumstances, so it would have been nice to see this one go, but Kipyegon came up 0.93 seconds short, running 8:07.04.
Though she didn’t quite pull it off, she proved that under the right circumstances, this record could go down. Kipyegon had some things working in her favor. Instead of racing Kipyegon, Australia’s Jessica Hull, who likely would have been her closest competitor, offered up her pacing services. (This LetsRun article has more about how that came about.) Kipyegon’s fitness is clearly great, and so was the crowd.
But the weather, 83 degrees at the start of the race, was less ideal. So was the fact that Kipyegon didn’t have any close competition. If anyone really wants to see this record go, just add Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet to the race. Chebet ran 8:11.56, the third-fastest time ever, in May, in a race where she wasn’t specifically targeting the record.
Not just anyone can go through 1600m in 4:20 and keep going, but Hull stayed in the race until just past 2,000m. It looked like the pace she set was a touch faster than Kipyegon wanted to go at times, so the space between them was a little larger than what’s ideal. But they both did a fantastic job, and Kipyegon’s kilometer splits—2:42.8, 2:42.9, and 2:41.3—couldn’t have been much more even.
Despite just missing the record, Kipyegon PRed by 16.51 seconds and was upbeat after the race. “I am very satisfied with the time,” she told reporters. “It was very hot…. I am grateful for what I have done. All those records, this is what I love doing. I want to be an inspiration for young people and I love to challenge myself.”
Kipyegon was so far ahead of the rest of the field that she might as well have been in a different race. Ethiopia's Likina Amebaw finished second in 8:34.53. Karissa Schweizer, a later addition to the field, finished ninth in 8:40.35 and Ella Donaghu was 11th in 8:42.91. (Full 3,000m replay)
The 1500m was somewhat similar to the 3,000m in the sense that Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took off after the pacers, so most of the athletes in the field were essentially running a separate race. In typical Tsegay fashion, she hit 400m in 59.3 seconds and 800m in 2:00.4. She slowed after that, going through 1200m in 3:03.1, but she hung on well enough to win by nearly four seconds, in 3:50.62.
When I watch Tsegay race, I think that if there’s an athlete who would have been comfortable with the pacing in the Breaking4 attempt, it’s her. She’s producing fantastic times. She’s the third-fastest woman of all time in the 1500m and was only 0.32 seconds off of her PR. But I can’t help but wonder what she could do if she backed off slightly the first two laps and saved more for her finish. She confirmed after the race that she’ll do the 5,000m/10,000m double at the world championships, and I think that’s a good call because the way she races 1500s doesn’t tend to hold up well in championship settings.
Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom was the athlete who stuck closest to Tsegay, and just like the London Diamond League meet, she paid for it. After hitting 400m in 59.9 seconds and 800m in 2:04.1, the chase pack caught her and she finished seventh in 3:56.79.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, who rarely races the 1500m, didn’t go out quite as aggressively as Haylom, but she did go out ahead of the chase pack, and she managed to hang on. She finished second in 3:54.73 and took more than 11 seconds off of her PR, which she ran at altitude.
Emerging from the chase pack, Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell was the best of the rest, finishing third in 3:56.00, just ahead of Nikki Hiltz, who was fourth in 3:56.10. “I can feel myself knocking on the door of a big breakthrough,” Hiltz wrote on Instagram afterward. They’ll race again on Friday, at the Brussels Diamond League meet.
Heather MacLean broke into the 3:57s for the first time, finishing eighth in 3:57.79. And racing in front of a home crowd, recent University of Oregon grad Klaudia Kazimierska finished 11th in a personal best of 3:59.66. (Full 1500m replay)
Taylor Roe secures her spot on the U.S. team
Running in hot and humid conditions in the Bahamas, Taylor Roe won the 10,000m at the NACAC Championships by 77 seconds, in 32:19.84. Though she ran 34 seconds faster at the USATF Outdoor Championships, World Athletics places greater weight on results achieved at certain events, and area championships rank above national championships. So her performance on Friday will give her world ranking a nice boost.
I don’t love that the system works this way, especially because the classification of events does not always align with the quality of the competition they attract. There were four athletes in the race with more than seven minutes separating first and fourth place. But Roe wisely used the system to her advantage to secure her spot representing the U.S. in the 10,000m at the world championships next month. She might have made the cut regardless, but now she doesn’t have to give it a second thought.
Nia Akins won the 800m in 1:59.75, finishing just ahead of Saint Vincent’s Shafiqua Maloney (1:59.98). Emily Mackay (4:09.48) and Dani Jones (4:10.49) went 1-2 in the 1500m. Krissy Gear won the steeplechase (9:35.27) and kudos to Cuba’s Anisleidis Ochoa Suarez, who prevented U.S. athletes from sweeping the middle-distance and distance events by winning the 5,000m in 15:35.80. Bailey Hertenstein took second in 15:36.34. (NACAC Results)
Other News
With so many collegiate athletes now having NIL deals, it felt a little ridiculous that the NCAA’s best distance runner, Kenya’s Doris Lemngole, didn’t have one. So it was great to see last week’s announcement that the Alabama junior has signed an NIL deal with On. In June, Artiken announced that they had signed an NIL deal with a Kenyan athlete in the NCAA, but said they could not disclose who it was with, because the athlete was on an F-1 visa. They were using the opportunity to advocate for change. But even before that, it was clear some companies were finding a workaround, because quite a few international athletes had backing from brands. On also announced that they have signed NIL agreements with New Mexico’s Marion Jepngetich and West Virginia’s Joy Naukot, both of Kenya.
The Chicago Marathon announced its pro fields last week and Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu and Hawi Feysa lead the way. There are four Americans in the field who have run in the 2:23-4 range—Lindsay Flanagan, Natosha Rogers, Gabi Rooker, and Dakotah Popehn—but this announcement made me wonder if most Americans are running New York, or if we’ll see some athletes pop up elsewhere. (Keira D’Amato has said she’s looking to run fast, so I assume she’s in the elsewhere category.) Chicago will have a new champion this year as three-time champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya is currently serving a provisional doping suspension. Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye, a 1:04:14 half marathoner and Kenya’s Loice Chemnung, a 1:05:46 half marathoner, will debut in the marathon. Emily Venters has been hinting at an upcoming marathon debut for a while now, and now we know it will be in Chicago.
It was nice to see that Popehn is using the Chicago Marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society, in memory of her mother. Next up, she’ll be racing Sunday’s Antrim Coast Half Marathon in Ireland.
According to Reuters, sex testing is not off to a good start in Canada or France. Canadian women provided saliva samples, but it turned out the test they were using required blood samples. And the French Athletics Federation had planned to test athletes at their national championships, but such testing is illegal in France (kudos to them), so they will have to be tested outside of the country. I am already livid that this testing is happening at all, but I will be even more so if anyone needs to miss the world championships just because World Athletics did not give federations enough time to test athletes.
If you can access it, The Athletic published a disturbing series on stalking in sports. One of the articles points out that there’s been a sharp increase in the number of athletes and celebrities who have stalkers, and mentions a case involving University of Colorado cross country runners in 2015-16. (You can read more about the case here and here.) Emily Infeld is briefly mentioned, along with the detail that she still keeps a metal bar by her front door. The series also includes pieces about why tennis is at the epicenter, catfishing in women’s golf, a former NFL player’s experience, and a list of some of the high profile cases from the past five years, which includes Gabby Thomas and Lolo Jones. The latter points out that only 29 percent of stalking victims reported their experiences to the police in 2019, so the true number of cases is significantly higher.
The Brussels Diamond League meet has announced that Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi will go after the steeplechase mile world record on Friday. It’s a new event, so I imagine that whatever she runs, it will be a record.
British Olympian Phoebe Gill, 18, announced that she will attend the University of Edinburgh, where she’ll be coached by former Oregon Track Club Elite coach Mark Rowland.
Former Georgetown standout Chloe Scrimgeour announced that she has signed with Brooks and will join the Brooks Beasts.
This was a nice news segment on marathon pioneer Marilyn Bevans.
It was also to see Kaylee Mitchell get some coverage from her local news station after making the world championships team.
Andrew Greif wrote about Grand Slam Track’s financial failure for NBC News after founder Michael Johnson put out a lengthy statement last week. The bottom line is that the league still does not have the funds to pay athletes for the 2025 season. Johnson seems optimistic that there will be a 2026 season, but the longer this goes, the tougher it will be to overcome the damage to the league’s reputation.
Game Changers, an organization working to help women of color become certified running coaches, is now accepting applications for their fall program. Learn more and/or apply here.
I enjoyed this article from Cindy Kuzma, about Rice Krispie treats upending the “athlete-fuel wars.” My head exploded a little when I read the part about Molly Huddle eating 16 of them in one day.
I was pleased to see that Alysia Montaño will be the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 2025 Wilma Rudolph Courage Award Recipient.
The World Mountain and Trail Running Championships are headed to Africa for the first time, as Cape Town will host the 2027 edition.
This article from Cronkite News looks at how travel bans and restrictions might affect collegiate athletes in Arizona (and beyond).
Distance runner Evie Parts is suing Swarthmore College for her removal from the school’s track team after the NCAA issued its new policy on trans athletes on February 6. It was interesting to read that the school “fully reinstated” Parts in April, and she was able to compete for the school until she graduated in May. All of the articles I’re read about this have pointed out that she won the 10,000m at the Bill Butler Invitational in April. Looking at the results, it was a two-person race.
Additional Results
Anne Flower broke Ann Trason’s 31-year-old course record to win the Leadville 100 in 17:58:19. She finished second overall and took just over eight minutes off of Trason’s mark. Flower, 35, is an emergency room doctor in Colorado Springs and a 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier. (Results)
Emma Grace Hurley did a lot of the pace pushing at Sunday’s Falmouth Road Race, leading through 5K in 15:49 and 10K in 31:55. But she couldn’t quite shake Ethiopia’s Melknat Wudu Sharew, 20, who won the race in 36:03. Hurley finished one second back. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot won the masters division, finishing third overall in 36:18. Tatyana McFadden won the wheelchair race in 26:05. (Results)
At the Meeting voor Mon in Leuven, Belgium, U.S. runners took six of the top eight spots in the 800m, with Ajee’ Wilson (1:59.22) and Olivia Baker (1:59.48) leading the way. Kayley DeLay (8:45.63) and Alicia Monson (8:50.91) went 1-2 in the 3,000m. Sarah Calvert, the British champion, won the 1500m in 4:05.57, and Anna Camp Bennett (fourth in 4:05.95) led the Americans. (800m results | 1500m results | 3,000m results)
Last Tuesday, Australia’s Georgia Griffith won the 1500m at the Gyulai István Memorial meet in Hungary, running a small personal best of 3:58.25. Heather MacLean, the only U.S. runner in the race, finished third in 3:59.35. The field was deep, with the top 13 athletes running 4:02 or faster. Dani Jones was supposed to be in the race but she had to withdraw due to a sinus infection before heading off to the NACAC Championships. And Helen Schlachtenhaufen also had to skip the race. She said in an Instagram story that she has had some complications coming off her fall at the USATF Outdoor Championships, and she is recovering a bit slower than she had hoped. Raevyn Rogers won the B heat of the 400m in a personal best of 51.92 seconds. (Results)
Angel Piccirillo won the Falmouth Mile, a track race held in conjunction with the Falmouth Road Race, in 4:27.97. And Tatyana McFadden won the wheelchair race in 3:52. (Results)
Katie Camarena easily won the 3,000m at Finland’s Motonet GP Oulu, running 9:02.13. (Results)
Kenya’s Miriam Chebet won Colombia’s La Carrera del Pacifico Cali 10K in 31:00. Stephanie Bruce, who was fifth in 33:11, was the only American in the elite field. (Results)
Australia’s Abbey Caldwell (1:59.72) and Canada’s Maeliss Trapeau (1:59.86) went 1-2 in the 800m at Switzerland’s Fribourg International Meeting. (Results)
Great Britain’s Lauren McNeil won the Edmonton Half Marathon in 1:11:25, and Canadians Natasha Wodak (1:11:40) and Florence Caron (1:11:57) took second and third. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
Emily Infeld was great on the Ali on the Run Show. Some of the small details were fun, like Infeld’s parents giving Elise Cranny and her a ride to the track in advance of the 10,000m at USAs, especially since the pair ended up battling for the win in the homestretch. And it was interesting to hear her say that she likes to take bicarb at least three hours before her race, because the effects gradually wear off, but I imagine it’s a balance for some, if they want to keep it down.
I enjoyed hearing Great Britain’s Clara Evans tell the story of her last-minute Olympic marathon call up on the Beyond the Track Podcast. What an emotional rollercoaster. (She comes on just after the 6:30 mark.)
I always enjoy hearing pro runners look back on their careers when they’ve had years to reflect, and two-time Canadian Olympian Nicole Sifuentes was good on the Run Canada Podcast. It was interesting to hear her estimate that she earned about $12,000/year in her first pro contract with Saucony. And she still runs but not as intensely as she used to. “I don’t want to hurt that way anymore,” she said. “I’m going to try hard, but I’m not going to dig to the depths of my soul.”
The Earthmovers podcast, hosted by Alison Mariela Désir, Stefanie Flippin, and Verna NezBegay Volker, has launched, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from all of them.
I became an Erin Sprague fan listening to her discuss climate change on Long Run Labs. Sprague is a runner and the CEO of Protect Our Winters. It was interesting to hear her thoughts on why there’s less climate activism in running compared to other outdoor pursuits. But she sees that shifting. “Where I feel a lot of hope is that runners, when united, are a force for change,” she said.
Additional Episodes: On The Trail Network Podcast, Kaytlyn Gerbin discussed returning to competition after a major hip surgery and having a baby | Sage Hurta-Klecker was on both I’ll Have Another and the Coffee Club podcast | Angelina Napoleon on The Running Effect | Emily Mackay on Citius Mag | Laura Weightman on The Runna Podcast
This coming week should be a fun one, with Diamond League meets on both Wednesday and Friday.
Thanks to all of you who consistently read this newsletter, thanks to those of you who support it via Venmo or Patreon. Fast Women would not exist without you.
I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison
So pissed about the sex testing, though this sentence did make me laugh/cry at the absurdity of it all:
"And the French Athletics Federation had planned to test athletes at their national championships, but such testing is illegal in France (kudos to them), so they will have to be tested outside of the country."