In 2024, Keely Hodgkinson became the fourth successive woman to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year after Emma Raducanu (2021), Beth Mead (2022) and Mary Earps (2023). After an annus mirabilis over 800 metres, which culminated in a convincing victory over Tsige Duguma at the Stade de France, Paris to win her first Olympic gold medal, Hodgkinson beat darts player Luke Littler and cricketer Joe Root to the award. Paralympian Sarah Storey, triathlete Alex Yee and footballer Jude Bellingham were also shortlisted.
Reflecting on a season in which she went unbeaten over 800 metres, the then 22-year-old said, “This year has been incredible and I achieved everything I set out to do on the outdoor track.” In June, Hodgkinson retained her title in the European Championship in Rome, Italy and, in June, improved her own British record to 1:54.61 at the London Diamond League. The latter performance made her the sixth-fastest woman in history over 800 metres, leading to speculation that the longest-standing record in athletics – the 1:53.28 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in Munich, Germany in 1983 – may be within her range.
Born and raised in Atherton, Greater Manchester, Hodgkinson announced her arrival on the global stage when, as a relatively unknown teenager, she finished runner-up to fellow 19-year-old Athing Mu in the final of the 800 metres at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in 2021. She continued her series of near-misses when runner-up to Mu, again, at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States in 2022, missing out on a gold medal by just 0.08 seconds.
The following year, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hodgkinson was involved in a highly-anticipated showdown with her principal rivals, Mu and Mary Moraa. The ‘Big Three’ dominated the final, filling the first three places, but although Hodgkinson beat Mu for the first time, she again finished runner-up, to Moraa, by just 0.31 seconds. Nevertheless, victory in Paris made Hodgkinson just the tenth British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, and the first since Jessica Ennis-Hill at London 2012.