LEIGH'S Keely Hodgkinson has finally won the gold medal she so desperately wanted.

The silver medallist in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, as well as the World Championships and Commonwealth Games this year, lived up to the billing as favourite when she stormed home first in the European Championships 800m final in Munich this evening.

Hodgkinson, the former Fred Longworth High School student who is ranked number one in Europe, moved to the front around 200m from home and never looked back.

She raised her arm to salute her success as she crossed the line in the wet conditions.

Leigh Journal: Picture: PA WirePicture: PA Wire

Leigh Journal: Picture: PA WirePicture: PA Wire

Television pictures then showed her sharing her delight with her parents, who were watching on from the stands.

Her time was 1min 59.04secs, crossing the line ahead of Polish pair Rénelle Lamote (1:59.49) and Anna Wielgosz.

Hodgkinson told the BBC: "I'm very happy to come here and finally get myself on top of the podium.

"I'm really happy. I have a great team around me who have helped me all season.

"It's been a hard year mentally but we made it to the end and I have a gold and two silvers so I'm really happy."

 

She was first home in her semi-final on Saturday morning, achieving automatic qualification.

Her time was nearly three seconds faster than in the previous day's heat.

After sitting comfortably behind Poland's Anna Wielgosz, she hit the front at the 500m mark to clock 2mins 00.67secs, finishing ahead of Wielgosz and Ireland's Louise Shanahan, who also qualified from the first of the two semi-finals.

Hodgkinson, a former Fred Longworth High School student, is ranked number one in Europe.

She finished first in the second of four heats on Thursday to qualify for the semi-finals.

Although hers was the slowest heat and 20 runners recorded a faster race over the four heats, times did not matter for those finishing in the first three as qualification was again automatic and Hodgkinson was keeping fuel in the tank for what was to come.

She led her heat from start to finish and said afterwards: "The first lap was slow, and I knew I had to do a faster second lap – but at Championships times don't really matter, it's about qualifying or getting a medal."

She said she wasn't sure if the other athletes were waiting for her to take the race on from the front but she wasn't afraid to do so.

"Not sure if they relied on me. I was just going to see if any of them wanted to take it on, and, if not, I was happy to do it myself and try to qualify," she said.

"There were a few heel clippings, felt it a few times, but that's fine – it is part of racing."