Mary Moraa's Briton opponent strikes with 400m personal best as Prefontaine Classic clash looms

The women's 800m race at the Prefontaine Classic will promise to be a thrilling show after Mary Moraa's Briton opponent opened her season with a 400m personal best time.

Mary Moraa’s track rival, Keely Hodgkinson has been off to a great start to her season, setting a Personal Best time over the 400m in her season opener.

The Briton competed at a meet in Citta di Savona and was in a class of her own as she oozed class to finish second, clocking 51.61 seconds to improve her personal best time of 51.76 that she set at last year's European Under-23 Championships.

The 22-year-old will compete in her first 800m race at the Prefontaine Classic, the Diamond League Meeting in Eugene, USA and from her performance in the season opener, her opponents will be in for a surprise.

The world 800m bronze medallist will be up against reigning world champion Moraa and the world 800m silver medallist and Olympic champion Athing Mu of the USA.

Mu will be competing on home soil, hoping to take advantage of that to take the win but the duo will not make it easy for her. The American is yet to compete and will make her season debut at the USTAF LA Grand Prix.

However, Moraa has competed in a couple of races and has shown to be in great form and ready to outshine her opponents. The 23-year-old started her season quite early, with the Athletics Kenya national trials for the African Games.

She then proceeded to win the 400m at the African Games before making her season debut in the 800m at the Kip Keino Classic.

The Commonwealth Games champion also extended her wining streak to the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, Qatar where she also claimed top honours. She gears up for the 400m at the LA Grand Prix before taking on her rivals at the Prefontaine Classic next weekend.

posted Thursday May 16th
by Abigael Wuafula