Keely Hodgkinson has announced the launch of her own indoor athletics event as she looks to use her platform to revolutionise the sport.
The newly crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year will stage the inaugural ‘Keely Klassic’ in Birmingham in February, with the Beeb already in talks to broadcast it.
The meeting will mark Hodgkinson’s first race since winning Olympic gold in Paris in August and she will attempt to break the 800 metres world indoor record, which was set on the very day she was born.
But the 22-year-old’s bigger aim is to help attract a younger audience to athletics and she wants her event at the Utilita Arena to be ‘an experience like no other’ for fans.
The Keely Klassic is set to be an hour-long show, with around nine races involving top British stars wearing new kit without bibs, and with live music and celebrity appearances.
It will take place on February 15, a week before the UK Indoor Championships at the same venue, with the intention of it becoming an annual event.
Keely Hodgkinson was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Tuesday night
The 22-year-old has announced the launch of her own indoor athletics meeting set to take place in February
The race will be Hodgkinson’s first since claiming Olympic gold in the 800m in Paris this summer
‘We are hoping to just bring something fun to track,’ said Hodgkinson. ‘We want to create a legacy within ourselves and try to bring more eyes to track and field, especially my generation. That is the aim.
‘It’s hopefully something that will go on for a long time. I have got big ambitions with it. The marketing is coming out and it’s going to look really cool.
‘I think track over the years has got a bit lost with all the football in this country and it’s not a top, top sport, but we have such great people in it. We have seen with the Olympics that when it is put out there, it is really fun.
‘We can definitely give that to people more often. We want to make this event an experience like no other, with the intensity of world-class sport and the energy and excitement of live entertainment. I’m excited for fans to witness history in the making.’
As well as her bold plans to modernise athletics, another area where Hodgkinson wants to see change in the sport is investment in coaches.
Her mentors, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, were jointly awarded Coach of the Year at Tuesday’s SPOTY ceremony. But their honour came just days after it emerged they were facing a huge pay cut from UK Athletics.
Painter would previously have received £40,000 for coaching a global gold medallist, but has been told by UKA that he will now get just £15,000 for the year.
‘It’s actually the coaching that we need more investing in,’ said Hodgkinson. ‘You could have the most talented person in the world, if they’re not coached right, or looked after, it can completely go to waste.’
Hodgkinson’s mentors, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, were jointly awarded Coach of the Year at Tuesday’s SPOTY ceremony
Painter and Meadows have not yet accepted the pay cut and are planning talks with UKA – whose own funding has been reduced by UK Sport – in the coming weeks.
‘We’ll hopefully sit down with them and say, “It can’t be right, you’re getting an eight percent cut from UK Sport but we’re getting over 50 per cent cuts”,’ said Painter. ‘We’ll have a chat and see what we can do.
‘It has been tough for coaches and it’s difficult times for the sport. I think there’s something going on politically at the top end and unfortunately it’s athletes and coaches who are going to suffer the backlash.’
Hodgkinson was back in training on Wednesday after a late night celebrating her SPOTY success, when she topped the public vote ahead of 17-year-old darts sensation Luke Littler and England cricketer Joe Root.
While her victory was never really in doubt, her biggest issue of the evening came when her phone alarm went off just as Chris Hoy was reading her name out as the winner. Hodgkinson explained that she sets an alarm for 9pm every night as a reminder in case she needs to update her next day’s whereabouts for drug testers.
‘It started going off just as my name was being announced – it was really embarrassing!’ she said.
Hodgkinson is the first SPOTY winner from athletics since Mo Farah in 2017 and the first female from track and field to triumph since Kelly Holmes in 2004.
Asked if she was on her way to becoming one of the greats of British athletics, World Athletics president and former SPOTY winner Lord Coe said: ‘She’s already there. I’d be hard pushed to place any female athlete significantly above her in the history of our sport in the last 50 years.’
In response to Coe’s comments, Hodgkinson added: ‘I still think there is so much to do. There are so many more milestones to hit. How many titles can you get? How many medals can you win?
‘I just want to keep building on what I’ve already done. I loved Paris and SPOTY has been the best way my year could end, but now it’s about how can I maintain this and how can I keep it going.’
