Think about Keely Hodgkinson versus Laura Muir over the impartial distance of 1000m. It is not going to occur this weekend as each athletes have data of their sights on the World Indoor Tour Ultimate in Birmingham on Saturday with the stopwatch being their foremost opposition. Maybe this mouth-watering head-to-head may occur in future, although.
If that’s the case, who would win? “Set it up and let’s discover out!” mentioned Hodgkinson, talking to the media forward of Saturday’s assembly.
“Keely would have me over 800m, undoubtedly,” Muir mentioned, “however then there’s that final 200m.”
Hodgkinson added: “It’d be fascinating. I feel races like which can be fairly enjoyable. Individuals who don’t actually race one another a lot coming collectively over random distances are good.”
For now, nonetheless, the 2 athletes will go their separate methods this weekend. The gang on the Utilita Enviornment will get two races for the worth of 1 with Hodgkinson racing 800m and Muir tackling the 1000m.
Muir holds the British indoor report for 1000m with 2:31.93 however is after Maria Mutola’s world report of two:30.94. “The final time I competed over the 1000m in Birmingham I bought the British report so hopefully I’ll get one other report this time,” she mentioned.
“It’s a tough one and nasty to tempo however I’ll have a go at it. It’s like working an 800m and then you definitely maintain going. It’s brutal and perhaps probably the most painful of all distances I’ve raced over.”
Does she benefit from the ache? “I’m unsure I take pleasure in it as such,” she mentioned. “The sensation afterwards while you’ve actually nailed a race is sweet. Nevertheless it’s not precisely comfy. It’s thrilling to know what’s going to come back after however it’s not essentially good on the time.”
Waiting for her race on Saturday afternoon, she added: “Hopefully I’ll have a few particular initials on the board afterwards.”
Laura Muir (Getty for BA)
Breaking a world report is, she says, one among half a dozen targets that she has focused in 2023 along with her coach Andy Younger. Others embrace profitable the Wanamaker Mile on the Millrose Video games, which she achieved earlier this month. Then there’s profitable gold on the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul subsequent weekend.
She would like to make the rostrum once more on the World Championships in Budapest this summer time. “I’d like to improve that medal though it’s nonetheless going to be loopy aggressive,” she mentioned.
On different targets, she added: “This appears like an odd one however I wish to run a quick 5000m. I really feel I can lop off about 20sec off my PB (14:49.12). All my PBs are fairly good however that one is bugging me and it must be revised fairly swiftly.”
Lastly she is eager to consign Zola Budd’s long-standing UK mile report of 4:17.57 from 1985 to historical past. “It’s additionally been bugging me for some time and I’d wish to treatment it,” she mentioned. “It’s stood for 30-odd years and I had two goes at it in London and fallen quick every time. Nevertheless it relies upon if I can get right into a mile race on the proper time. I’ve a number of British data however that’s the one which’s bugging me. I’m very a lot a ‘tick the listing off’ type of particular person.”
Hodgkinson is aiming to enhance her personal British indoor report of 1:57.20 and is making no secret of the actual fact she has Jolanda Ceplak’s world report of 1:55.82 in her sights. Coincidentally, Ceplak’s efficiency got here on the identical day Hodgkinson was born – March 3, 2002 – and the Olympic and world 800m silver medallist will flip 21 on that date in a number of days’ time.
Keely Hodgkinson (Getty for BA)
“It’s fairly cool,” she mentioned on the quirky statistic, whereas on the report she added: “I really feel I’m in fairly good condition and if issues go properly then I may get near it. However on the planet report race there have been two of them battling all the best way to the road. I’ll give it my finest shot, although. It’s a very exhausting report to interrupt so I’ll simply go on the market and do my finest.”
Hodgkinson’s final race was a 1:57.71 victory in Liévin however she was visibly disgruntled on the end. “I used to be pissed off!” she admitted. “It was only a little bit of a messy race however that’s the best way it goes typically.”
It is just two years since she loved a giant breakthrough to win the European indoor 800m title in Toruń and he or she believes she is a a lot better athlete now. “I’m rather a lot stronger now. I’m quicker. I’ve bought extra expertise,” she mentioned.
READ MORE: Birmingham World Indoor Tour Ultimate preview
On the slim probability that Muir’s description of the 1000m as “brutal” places her off the thought of a head-to-head over that distance, then there’s all the time the thought of racing world indoor 400m and 500m record-holder Femke Bol over 600m. “It will be a enjoyable race,” mentioned Hodgkinson, who chatted just lately to the Dutch athlete in regards to the thought of a enjoyable conflict over impartial territory.
Extra more likely to occur, although, is Hodgkinson testing herself over 400m a bit extra in future with the aim of creating the British 4x400m group on the Paris Olympics. She revealed in Birmingham, for instance, that she plans to deal with that distance on the European Below-23 Championships in Finland this summer time earlier than making an attempt to dethrone world and Olympic champion Athing Mu over 800m in Budapest.
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