Keely Hodgkinson puts 's***show' behind her to win five-figure prize and mad-expensive tiara

Keely Hodgkinson has added a $25,000 (£18,721) tiara to her Olympic gold medal, not long after labelling her 2025 campaign a "s***show." In 2024, the Greater Manchester runner was one of Great Britain's golden girls, as she won gold in the 800m of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Unfortunately for her, this season has been a nightmare.A trio of hamstring injuriesforced her to take a 376-day break from racing, while she also experienced a disappointing third placed finish at the World Championships in Tokyo.

However, at the glamorous, all-female Athlos New York City athletics event, she ran the fastest 800m of the competition with an impressive time of 56.53. Tennisicon Serena Williams, whose husband Alexis Ohanian - the co-founder of Reddit - created the event, presented the eye-popping award to Hodgkinson.

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Perhaps best of all for Hodgkinson, she also inflicted a douse of revenge on Kenyan star Lilian Odira. At last month's World Championship in Japan, Hodgkinson looked set to seal her return to athletics with a triumph.

However, the world No. 17 pipped her to the finish line on the final stretch to shock the sporting world, while Georgia Hunter Bell also passed her to take the silver. Hodgkinson managed to overcome both to win the tiara as well as a cheque for $60,000 (£44,931).

After claiming her crown, or tiara in this case, Hodgkinson said: "I've barely raced this season so it was probably less of a struggle for me to go out there and want to give it something. The atmosphere out there is crazy so it was really, really fun."

The star studded event also saw a performance from platinum-selling pop star Ciara, with the first round of the long jump event also taking place in the middle of Times Square.

Had Hodgkinson managed to secure a new world record, she would have banked a bonus prize of $250,000 ($187,213). Considering the difficulty and lack of races she has had this season, making history would have likely been at the back of her mind.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Hodgkinson made it clear she is looking forward to saying goodbye to the 2025 campaign. She said: "It’s been an absolute s***show, honestly.

"I definitely do feel a little under-raced. Two races is probably not enough, especially after so long out.

"I felt really bad in the semis but looking back, I think my stomach was playing up a little bit. It’s nothing that if I was in everyday life would affect you. But I guess when you’re trying to run at that level."

Looking back on her loss in the World Championship at the time, Hodgkinson admitted she was struggling physically with the race. She added: "I thought I had it. I didn’t sense the other Kenyan coming on the outside.

"But there wasn’t really much more I could do. I left it all out there. In the last five metres, my legs were falling off.”

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