Keely Hodgkinson has potential to achieve 2025 ‘double whammy’ – Paula Radcliffe

Paula Radcliffe believes Keely Hodgkinson’s potential is “stratospheric” as the Olympic champion targets a “double whammy” of success in 2025.

Hodgkinson won gold over 800 metres in Paris last summer and has now set her sights on doing the same both indoors and outdoors in this year’s world championships in Nanjing and Tokyo respectively.

The 22-year-old is also targeting the world outdoor record of one minute 53.28 seconds set by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983, as well as Jolanda Ceplak’s world indoor mark of 1:55.82 at an event named the ‘Keely Klassic’ in Birmingham in February.

“She handled a meteoric rise when she won that Olympic silver medal in Tokyo and then won multiple silver medals which would have been a disappointment to many people,” Radcliffe, who has launched a new podcast – Paula’s Marathon Run Club – to advise people preparing for April’s London Marathon, told the PA news agency.

“But she built on that, handled all that pressure and really showed last year she can get close to that world record, which has been untouchable for so long.

“I think it’s that double whammy if you like, of getting that world outdoor title to go with the Olympic title and seeing what she can do time-wise as well.

“I think the two come together. She knows what she’s doing with Trev [coach Trevor Painter] but I’m sure they will be focusing first on the championships because if she’s in shape to win there, she’s got to be in shape to challenge that record.

“She’s so strong mentally and physically we forget how young she is and that she’s still growing and there’s huge potential to come. That’s really, really exciting.

“And I think the great thing about Keely is she’s very normal, if I can say that. She’s stratospheric in terms of her achievement and potential and talent but she’s also a 22-year-old girl and really does pull in that audience.

“Keely does really show you can be cool, you can have fun with your friends but you can focus and also be a world-beater and have it all in that respect.”

Radcliffe’s 17-year-old daughter Isla will follow in her mother’s footsteps when she runs in the London Marathon in April to raise funds for Children with Cancer UK, who supported her family after she was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer aged 13.

Isla, who received treatment and is now cancer-free, will run her first marathon in an event her mother won three times and is perhaps therefore one of the few debutants who will not need to listen to the 16-week podcast Radcliffe is hosting with former Olympic marathon runner Chris Thompson.

“I’m trying to manage an arthritic foot and juggling work and everything I do, so I’m really getting an idea of how the average person gets ready for a marathon, rather than being the elite, spoiled person whose whole day revolves around it.

“I can now really, really relate to and admire all the people who get ready for the London marathon and others every year while trying to juggle a full-time job and families alongside it.”

::: Paula’s Marathon Run Club podcast is released every Monday wherever you get your podcasts.