Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson to race at Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham

Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson (coach: Trevor Painter, club: Leigh) will take on the world at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham on Saturday February 19, 2022.

The British 800m record holder is the first leading athlete to announce their intention to compete at the event, which returns to the Utilita Arena Birmingham in the new year.

Star-studded fields are set to align for the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event, one of seven marquee indoor events across the globe, with Hodgkinson to the fore.

With tickets now on general sale, you can secure your seat to watch Hodgkinson in the second city.

“I’m so excited to be running at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham,” said the 19-year-old. “It’s going to be one of my big races of the season and I can’t wait to be back in front of a home crowd.

“I had a great indoor season in 2021 and that set me up perfectly for the outdoors and the Olympic Games.

“Competing at home with a big crowd in Birmingham, will hopefully set me up for the same in 2022 with some massive major Championships on the horizon.”

Hodgkinson made her big breakthrough in the 2021 indoor season. She smashed the world under-20 indoor 800m record in Vienna last January with a clocking of 1:59.03 seconds.

The Leigh Harrier then won 800m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, becoming the youngest British winner of a European indoor title for more than 50 years.

Hodgkinson’s feats in the 2021 outdoor season need no introduction as she claimed a landmark second national title at the Müller British Athletics Championships. She then took Tokyo by storm, smashing Dame Kelly Holmes’s national record with 1:55.88 to win Olympic silver on her Games debut.

The Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham was last staged in 2019, when Hodgkinson’s fellow Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir broke the 31-year-old British mile record. Women’s middle-distance running took centre stage with Britain’s Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, who went on to win European indoor gold that season, taking 800m victory with 2:01.16.

Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera broke the men’s 1500m world record two years ago and hopes will be high once again for fast times and packed crowds in Birmingham.

Tickets are on sale NOW.

posted Thursday November 4th