Keely Hodgkinson's behaviour at birthday party brought up by Seb Coe

World Athletics president and Team GB legend Lord Seb Coe has hailed Keely Hodgkinson as the most genuine person he knows, sharing the charming moment he crossed paths with the 800m superstar while she was out marking her birthday. Hodgkinson has swiftly cemented herself as the defining face of British athletics at just 24.

She stormed to her first Olympic gold in dominant fashion at Paris 2024 and shattered the women's world indoor 800m record in February. Her personal best was set at the London Diamond League in 2024, clocking 1:54.61. She clinched her first world indoor title in Torun in March, further solidifying a stunning sequence of achievements that also encompasses the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and the MBE she received last year in recognition of her services to athletics.

Hodgkinson continues to capture the hearts of the public with her refreshingly down-to-earth nature, and fellow Olympic champion Coe was effusive in his praise for the Greater Manchester-born track star.

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Coe, who claimed 1500m gold at both the 1980 and 1984 Games before masterminding London 2012, appeared on the UNTAPPED podcast and was quizzed about Hodgkinson. He said: "What I love about Keely is she is probably the most, forget athletics, she's probably the most authentic person I currently know."

"What you see with Keely is what you get. She is very funny, she's totally driven, but she puts things in perspective. I was up in Manchester not that long ago and I bumped into her one night going into a restaurant.

"I was on my way out. I'd sort of done the early shift and she turned up and it was her birthday. It was a couple of weeks... I mean she'd only just broken the indoor world record.

"She was only literally a few days away from destroying the field and winning her world indoor title and she was just out celebrating her birthday. She's just completely normal, but she is incredibly well talented. She's got a great coaching team around her.

"I'm probably going to lose whatever fan base I've got left in the south of England, but she's absolutely rooted to the north of England and that for me counts for a lot in life."

Hodgkinson has been testing herself over shorter distances and is poised to launch her 2026 outdoor season at the Rome Diamond League in June. Yet her coach, Jenny Meadows, has recognised that breaking the longest-standing record in athletics remains a long-term goal.

Jarmila Kratochvilova's women's outdoor 800m world record time of 1:53.28 has stood untouched since July 1983, while Hodgkinson's personal best currently sits at 1:54.61. Meadows told Athletics Weekly: "I think we're just desperate to see that 1:53 first before we try and go down to the 1:53.28.

"Because she has those months now of consistent training this winter, she's hitting outdoor times indoors, and it just makes me really excited. I think she will be running those 1:53s that she's so desperate to run.

"Whether it's 1:53.28, we'll see, but it was in London in 2024 that she saw 1:54 on the clock for the first time and now she's really looking forward to that moment when she sees 1:53 on the clock."