Keely Hodgkinson not happy with World Athletics Championships warm-up situation

Keely Hodgkinson has admitted the unusual warm-up conditions at the World Athletics Championships have added an extra challenge for her in Tokyo.

The Olympic 800m champion took the next step in her chase of a first world title by winning the third heat in one minute 57.53 seconds to book a place in the final alongside training partner Georgia Hunter Bell.

Yoyogi Park, where the warm-up track is located, is not – as is common – next to the stadium, but a drive away. Google Maps estimates it takes six minutes, but the PA news agency understands the commute is actually closer to 15 minutes.

“It doesn’t feel good out there,” said two-time world silver medallist Hodgkinson, after emerging fourth-fastest of the semi-finalists.

Pressed further, she explained: “I think the whole warm-up situation, you’re warming up for almost two hours. It can be quite draining, so maybe we will have to look at doing something better come Sunday.

“But other than that, I’m happy to be in (another) world final. That’s an achievement in itself. I’m really happy to do that and be in the picture for another medal, hopefully.”

PA has contacted World Athletics for comment.

Hodgkinson is not the first British athlete to comment on the set-up. Josh Kerr, who came into these championships as the defending 1500m champion but sustained a calf injury in the final, said after his first heat on Sunday that it was a “whole new call room situation from the warm-up track and everything” that required “practice”.

Hodgkinson has bounced back from a series of injuries and setbacks and an absence of over more than a year to simply appear at these championships, where the semi-final was just her fourth race outdoors this entire season after setting a world-leading 1:54.74 at the Silesia Diamond League on August 16.

The Atherton athlete became just the third British woman to win 800m Olympic gold when she stormed to the finish in Paris last summer, but she is certain gold at these championships would carry more weight.

“It would mean more to me than last year, 100 per cent,” Hodgkinson added.

“I think the journey here makes it that much sweeter. It’s so difficult to get here anyway, and then to come here and perform, especially after the year that I’ve had, I’m grateful to be running, and I just want to put together a performance I’m proud of.

“I want to be able to say I left it all out there. I don’t want anything left. If that’s good enough to win, amazing. If not, as long as I can walk away saying I did everything, then that’s all I can do.”