Keely Hodgkinson withdraws from Zurich Diamond League 800m

Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has withdrawn from the women's 800 metres at the Zurich Diamond League meeting on Thursday, 27 August. BBC Sport reported that the British runner said her body was not ready to race again after the European Championships, prompting her team to skip Zurich and prepare for her next competition. No specific new injury or return date was announced.

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Hodgkinson had been scheduled for another meeting with Switzerland's Audrey Werro. Earlier in August, Werro defeated Hodgkinson to win the European 800m title in Birmingham. Hodgkinson said in Birmingham that she had entered Zurich because the leading competitors were due to race and that facing the strongest field could help bring out her best performance.

The Zurich entry list still includes world 400m hurdles champion Femke Broeders-Bol, who has moved up to the 800m this season. Hodgkinson's training partner Georgia Hunter-Bell is also due to compete after winning the 800m title at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July. Werro is set to race in front of a home Swiss crowd without the planned rematch against Hodgkinson.

World 800m champion Lilian Odira has also withdrawn. The Kenyan athlete has experienced illness and weakness since the Commonwealth Games, according to the BBC report. Odira won the world title in Tokyo last year, finishing ahead of Hodgkinson and Hunter-Bell, so her absence removes another established championship winner from Thursday's field.

Hodgkinson's decision follows a carefully managed summer. She did not compete at the Commonwealth Games, choosing instead to prioritise the European Championships amid a crowded schedule. The 800m champion has dealt with hamstring and knee injuries over recent years, but her statement about Zurich did not identify either issue as the reason for this withdrawal. Before winning at the London Diamond League on 18 July, she had said she was feeling much better.

Zurich is the penultimate Diamond League meeting of the season. The campaign is scheduled to conclude with a two-day final in Brussels on Friday, 4 September and Saturday, 5 September. Hodgkinson said the decision was to miss this race and prepare for the next one, but the source report did not confirm which meeting will mark her return.