Keely Hodgkinson sets new personal best on Diamond League 400m debut in perfect preparation for record tilt

Keely Hodgkinson claimed a personal best as she finished seventh on her women’s 400m Diamond League debut in Rome.

The Paris gold medallist is looking to smash Jarmila Kratochvilova’s near-43-year-old women’s outdoor 800m record this summer and made further progress on her 400m speed, coming home with a time of 51.14 in a race won by Henriette Jaeger.

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Hodgkinson finished behind compatriot Amber Anning, who placed in fifth position with a time of 50.19 at the Stadio Olimpico.

Two-time world indoor champion Molly Caudery clinched the pole vault title with a season’s best jump of 4.80m, while fellow indoor champion Georgia Hunter Bell came first in the women’s 1500m with a time of three minutes 58.63 seconds.

Olympic champion Julien Alfred won the women’s 200m, while 2025 World Championships silver medallist Amy Hunt took fourth in 22.52 seconds and came in front of fifth-placed Dina Asher-Smith, who finished in 22.76 seconds.

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Noah Lyles took the men’s 100m title with a time of 9.88 seconds, ahead of Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in second and third respectively. Jeremiah Azu came ninth.

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"I am not showing anywhere to lose. I am here to win," Lyles said. "10 metres before the finish line I knew the ⁠race was over and I had already won it. I was thinking about how I was going ​to ⁠celebrate it."

PA