European Athletics Championships: Hodgkinson qualifies for 800m final as GB men's 4x100m finish last in semi-final
Published 11/06/2024 at 20:11 GMT+1
British 800m record holder and Tokyo Olympic Games silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson successfully qualified for the women's 800m final at the European Athletics Championships. Great Britain's women's 4x100m relay team would also make it through their heat to qualify for the final in Rome, but it proved a disappointing afternoon for the men's 4x100m team who finished last place in their semi-final.
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Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson cruised into the final of the women's 800m of the European Athletics Championships. as she looks to defend her gold medal in Rome.
Hodgkinson, who holds the British 800m record and won silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games, clocked the fastest time in her semi-final heat at one minute 58.07 seconds.
While the two-time world silver medallist eased through to Wednesday evening's final, fellow Brits Erin Wallace and Alex Bell both failed to qualify.
"This is way too early for me and less than 24 hours since the last race," said Hodgkinson.
"I felt good. I think today I wanted to be a bit more where I was comfortable with on the pace.
"A couple of the girls were saying thank you afterwards because they got PBs."
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There were mixed results for Great Britain's relay teams however, with Asha Philip, Amy Hunt, Dina Asher-Smith and Desiree Henry successfully booking their place in the women's 4x100m relay final.
However, the men's team would not succeed in making the final, with the quartet of CJ Ujah, Jona Efoloko, Richard Kilty and Romell Glave finishing in last place in their semi-final heat.
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Watch as Hodgkinson takes silver in 800m behind Moraa
Video credit: TNT Sports
Kilty branded the performance as "horrendous", stating "that team on paper is a very, very fast team, but something clearly went wrong. It is very disappointing as we wanted to come here and win. We are capable of winning."
"I don't know what happened. We should never been running that slow."
Great Britain's women's team will target a podium finish in the final, which takes place on Thursday.
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