Mu edges enthralling rematch with Hodgkinson

Mu edges enthralling rematch with Hodgkinson

AW
Published: 25th July, 2022
Updated: 18th February, 2025
BY Euan Crumley
American becomes her nation's first ever women's 800m world champion, but Briton comes tantalisingly close to gold in Eugene

A recurring topic during these World Championships has been how athletics can create, build and take advantage of developing rivalries in the sport.

If the governing bodies are searching for the perfect template then they need look no further than the women’s 800m. Ever since Athing Mu and Keely Hodgkinson duked it out in the Olympic final last summer, a rematch on the global stage had been hotly anticipated. On the track at Hayward Field on Sunday evening, the latest clash of these 20-year-old middle distance titans did not disappoint.

As in Tokyo, it was the American who was able to deliver the knockout blow and take top spot once again, her winning time a world leading 1:56.30. The big difference on this occasion, however, was that the Briton came significantly closer to sitting on top of the world – the gap falling from over half a second to just 0.08.

Since the Olympics, Hodgkinson has set about trying to close that gap on Mu and, on this evidence, the plan is working. After clocking a time of 1:56.38 for silver, though, there is just a little more work to do.

It says much about how far the Leigh Harrier has come in an incredibly short space of time that, while her Tokyo runner-up spot was greeted with utter joy, there was very clear disappointment in her not fulfilling her golden ambition this time around.

“I’m satisfied but not overjoyed,” said Hodgkinson, after reaching the podium in what was her first World Championships. “I’m a little disappointed that I missed out on gold by 0.08 which is tiny margins that I’ve worked so hard to close but I’ll take the positives. I’m getting closer.

"I’ve got a lot of respect for these athletes, particularly Athing. She’s competing in front of a home crowd as Olympic champion, so there was a lot of pressure for a 20 year-old, but I’ll take the silver and assess it.

“There are so many people who have so much belief in me. I’m not overly disappointed because to be in a world final is one thing, to win a silver medal is another. I came here to race for the gold but unfortunately I didn’t get it.”

The 800m medallists (Getty)

During the contest, Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji led through halfway in 57.09 with Mu, Hodgkinson and Kenyan Mary Moraa in close attendance. The American soon strode forward into the lead – a position from which she likes to dictate and eliminate her opponents – but Hodgkinson stuck with her.

With 100m to go, Mu strangely moved out a little wide, creating a gap on the inside (she later insisted that tactic was purely to give her the clearest line to the finish). Hodgkinson opted to try and dart through it, edging ahead briefly, but her rival began to close the door and just had enough to hit the line first. Moraa came home in a personal best of 1:56.71 to take bronze in what was a breathless, enthralling race.

“I tried to take the shortest route,” said Hodgkinson, who became Britain’s first medallist in this event since her coach and mentor Jenny Meadows in 2009 and will now target further medals in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. “I don’t regret it because I could have wasted a lot of energy by moving out and going around her. I just thought I’d try to sneak down the inside. I knew it would come down to the last 50m, so it was just a case of holding form and seeing what was left. We’ve worked so hard over the winter to close that gap with Athing. It has paid off, I can’t say it hasn’t.”

Mu, meanwhile, was able to celebrate the fact that she had just become the first American middle distance runner to win both an Olympic and world title. She is also her nation’s first ever gold medallist in the women’s 800m at the World Championships.

“I love competing against other fast women,” she said. “I really just wanted to continue with the wins that I have been having. Today, it was a little bit harder for me. It’s very nice to do it at home – 1000 per cent. The crowd is amazing. It's insane."

She added: “This year was a whole lot of adjustments. Not everyone may see it. It was a lot. Coming here and winning means a lot to me because I know what I have been going through. [So does] Being able to stand my ground after some major accomplishments last year.”

» To catch up with all our reports from Eugene, CLICK HERE

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