WATCH: Incredible scenes in Wigan as Keely Hodgkinson wins silver medal

The 19-year-old smashed Kelly Holmes' British record for the 800m

Author: Luke Wilson & PA Sport StaffPublished 3rd Aug 2021

Wigan's Keely Hodgkinson claimed a stunning 800 metres silver medal at the Olympics as the rising star smashed Kelly Holmes' British record.

The 19-year-old clocked one minute 55.88 seconds to finish behind winner Athing Mu of the USA in Tokyo.

She also set a new national record in the process, beating Holmes' mark of 1.56.21 minutes that the double Olympic champion set in 1995.

Our colleagues from Hits Radio Manchester were with Keely's friends and family as they watched and celebrated:

Hodgkinson said: "It was so open and I wanted to put it all out there, I'm so happy.

"Kelly Holmes is a legend. I've looked up to her and spoken to her in the last couple of days, she's a lovely person.

"I just have no words. It means so much, and thank you to everyone that has sent messages over the past couple of days.

"If the Olympics had been last year I wouldn't have been here, but suddenly it's given me a year to grow and compete with these girls."

Jemma Reekie came an agonising fourth, despite setting a new personal best of 1.56.90 minutes, after being caught by the USA's Raevyn Rogers.

Alex Bell also claimed a personal best of 1.55.66 minutes to come seventh.

Hodgkinson, studying criminology at Leeds Beckett University, has gone from virtually unknown at the start to the podium in Tokyo.

In January she ran 1:59.03 in an 800m race in Vienna to become the fastest woman under 20 at the distance indoors.

A month later she became the youngest British European Indoor champion for over 50 years after winning the 800m in Torun.

Hodgkinson is not funded by British Athletics as, amid the coronavirus pandemic, they did not add anyone further onto the World Class Performance Programme in 2020.

Coach Jenny Meadows, who won world bronze in 2009, tweeted a picture of a relaxed Hodgkinson curling her eyelashes in the build-up to underline her composure.

She has been backed by Barrie Wells, a millionaire businessman and philanthropist who has previously helped fund 18 athletes, including Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, to the London 2012 Olympics.

Wells had promised her the chance to drive an Aston Martin if she had made the final.

All of Team GB medal winners in Tokyo (so far!)

Jason Kenny - Gold

Jason Kenny became the most decorated Olympic cyclist of any nation, with gold in the men's keirin, taking his Olympic total to seven gold and two silver medals

Joe Choong - Gold

Joe Choong won gold in the modern pentathlon

Lauren Price - Gold

Lauren Price won gold in the Women's middleweight boxing

Galal Yafai - Gold

Birmingham's Galal Yafai celebrates after winning gold in the flyweight boxing at the Tokyo Olympics

Kate French - Gold

Team GB's Kate French wins gold in the modern pentathlon

Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald - Gold

Scottish cyclist Katie Archibald has claimed a gold medal winning the women's Madison at Tokyo 2020 alongside Laura Kenny who becomes the first woman in British history to win gold at three consecutive games. It also makes Kenny Team GB's most decorated female athlete, with six medals overall.

Matt Walls - Gold

Matt Walls won a gold in the track cycling, He won the Omnium event

Ben Maher - Gold

Ben Maher took gold on his horse in the Individual jumping

Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre - Gold

Team GB's Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre have won Gold in sailing's 470-class at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sailing - Gold & Silver

Team GB took home two golds and a silver within a few hours in the 3rd August. Giles Scott successfully defended his Gold from Rio in the Finn class, Stuart Bithell and Dylan Fletcher took gold in the 49er class and Anna Burnet and John Gimson took silver in the Nacra

Individual eventing - Silver

On the same day Tom McEwan won gold in team eventing, he also won a silver in the individual event!

Team Eventing - Gold

Laura Collett (pictured), Tom McEwen and Oliver Townend take Gold in the equestrian team eventing.

Charlotte Worthington - Gold

Charlotte Worthington from Chorlton in Manchester won the gold medal in the BMX freestyle in Tokyo - landing a historic trick in the final. She completed 360-degree flip in her second run - the first ever by a woman in competition.

Mixed 4x100 metres medley relay - Gold

Kathleen Dawson. James Guy (pictured), Adam Peaty and Anna Hopkin stormed to victory in the inaugural mixed 4x100 metres medley relay final in a new world record time at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Max Whitlock - Gold

Max Whitlock's successful defence of his Olympic pommel horse title meant he took home the Gold

Mixed Triathlon relay - Gold

Jess Learmonth, Jonathan Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee took Gold in the Mixed Triathlon relay

Bethany Shriever - Gold

Bethany Shriever won Gold as she took the women's BMX racing title for Team GB. This is the first year Team GB has won any medals in the sport since it was introduced to the games in 2008.

Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

Duncan Scott, Matthew Richards, James Guy and Tom Dean convincingly won the Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay for Team GB.

Tom Pidcock - Gold

Tom Pidcock, from Leeds, won gold in the cross country mountain biking.

Tom Daley & Matty Lee - Gold

Tom Daley, from Plymouth, and Leeds' Matty Lee also added to Team GB's medal count with gold in the ten-metre-synchronised diving, Daley finally winning Olympic gold after two bronze medals.

Tom Dean - Gold

Maidenhead's Tom Dean produced the performance of his life in the final of the men's 200 metres freestyle, clocking a national record time of one minute and 44.22 seconds to pip Tokyo 2020 flatmate Duncan Scott in a historic one-two for Team GB.

Adam Peaty - Gold

The first gold Team GB won was for Adam Peaty, from Uttoxeter, who created history by becoming the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title.

Men's Madison - Silver

Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls take silver in the Men's Madison

Men's 4x100m relay - Silver

There was only a hundredth of a second separating Team GB and the Gold medal, which went to Italy. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty, Chijindu Ujah, Zharnel Hughes were in the team in the final. This medal could be set to be lost though as CJ Ujah's sample was found to have a banned substance in it, which could mean disqualification for Team GB.

Keely Hodkinson - Silver

Wigan's Keely Hodgkinson claimed a stunning 800 metres silver medal at the Olympics as the rising star smashed Kelly Holmes' British record. The 19-year-old clocked one minute 55.88 seconds to finish behind winner Athing Mu of the USA in Tokyo.

Ben Whittaker - Silver

Team GB's Benjamin Whittaker has won Silver in boxing's light heavyweight division at the Tokyo Olympics.

Men's Team Sprint - Silver

Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens took Silver in the Men's team sprint. It leaves Jason Kenny as the most decorated British Olympian of all time alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Pat McCormack - Silver

Pat McCormack took Silver in the men's welterweight boxing

Team pursuit - Silver

Team GB broke a world record to get to the final of the women's team pursuit but couldn't quite beat the German team, who also broke the world record again 10 minutes after the Brits.

Weightlifting - Silver

Emily Campbell is the first British female weightlifter to win an Olympic medal - she got a silver in the women's +87 kg event.

Men's 4 × 100 m medley relay - Silver

Luke Greenbank, James Guy, Duncan Scott, Adam Peaty won Silver in the men's 4x100m medley relay. It made Duncan Scott has become one of Britain's most successful Olympians of all time taking four medals at a single Olympic Games.

Swimming 200m Individual Medley - Silver

Duncan Scott won his third medal of the Olympics in the 200m Individual Medley, taking Silver.

BMX Racing - Silver

Kye Whyte from London made BMX history for Great Britain on Friday morning as he won our first-ever medal in the BMX events. Moments after he won Silver, Beth Shriever took gold in her BMX race event

Georgia Taylor-Brown - Silver

Manchester's Georgia Taylor-Brown overcame a puncture to win silver for Great Britain in a wet women's triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.


Taylor-Brown went into the race as the reigning world champion and one of the favourites for the title but had to play catch-up on the 10 kilometres run after getting a flat tyre on the last lap of the bike leg.

Men's Quadruple Sculls Team - Silver

Harry Leask, Angus Groom, Tom Barras and Jack Beaumont celebrate Team GB's first rowing medal at Tokyo 2020. They won silver in the Men's Quadruple Sculls.

Mallory Franklin - Silver

Windsor canoeist Mallory Franklin won Team GB's 18th medal after taking silver in the women's single slalom, also known as the women's C1 event

Lauren WIlliams - Silver

Lauren Williams, from Blackwood in Wales, won Silver in Taekwondo at Tokyo 2020.

Bradley Sinden - Silver

Bradley Sinden, from Doncaster, won Silver for his Taekwondo performance at Tokyo 2020.

Duncan Scott - Silver

Duncan Scott became Scotland's first medallist as he got the silver in the men's 200 metres freestyle narrowly missing out to teammate Tom Dean for the gold

Alex Yee - Silver

Lewisham's Alex Lee won silver in triathlon at Tokyo 2020

Josh Kerr - Bronze

Josh Kerr took home bronze in the men's 1500 metres

Tom Daley - Bronze

Tom Daley diving in the final of the 10m platform at the Tokyo Olympics. The 27-year-old from Plymouth won the bronze.

Women's 4 × 100 metres relay - Bronze

Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita took bronze in the women's 4 × 100 metres relay

Jack Carlin - Bronze

Jack Carlin took Bronze in the Men's cycling sprint

Holly Bradshaw - Bronze

A Bronze medal for Holly Bradshaw in the Pole Vault

Women's Hockey - Bronze

Team GB's Hockey team took the Bronze

Sky Brown - Bronze

13-year-old Sky Brown won Bronze for Team GB in the skateboarding park event.

Liam Heath - Bronze

Team GB's Liam Heath has won Bronze in the final of the men's 200m kayak.

Jack Laugher - Bronze

Jack Laugher, gold and silver medallist in Rio took home the bronze in Tokyo after coming third in the men's 3m springboard diving.

Declan Brooks - Bronze

Declan Brooks won a bronze in the BMX freestyling

Frazer Clarke - Bronze

Team GB's Frazer Clarke celebrates after winning bronze in the Men's Super Heavy (+91kg) boxing.

Karriss Artingstall - Bronze

Karriss Artingstall won Bronze in the women's featherweight boxing

Emma Wilson - Bronze

Emma Wilson took Bronze in the Sailing in the women's RS:X

Mens Eight Rowing - Bronze

Great Britain won the bronze medal in the men's eight final at the Tokyo Olympics. The crew made up of Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Oliver Wynne-Griffith,Tom George, Mohamed Sbihi, Charles Elwes, James Rudkin and Tom Ford came third, behind gold medallists New Zealand, with Germany taking second.

200m Backstroke - Bronze

Luke Greenbank won bronze for Team GB in the Mens 200m Backstroke finals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Bryony Page - Bronze

Team GB's Bryony Page came third in the final of the women's trampolining. She won Bronze.

Matthew Coward-Holley - Bronze

Matthew Coward-Holley from Chelmsford won a Bronze for Team GB in the Men's trap shooting.

Charlotte Dujardin - bronze

By taking bronze in the individual dressage event Charlotte Dujardin has become Britain's most successful female Olympian. She now has six Olympic medals across three games

Dressage team - bronze

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Women’s team gymnastics - bronze

Great Britain claimed the first women's team gymnastics medal since 1928 as they delivered an extraordinary bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Bianca Walkden - Bronze

Bianca Walkden from Liverpool claimed a bronze in Taekwondo at Tokyo 2020

Chelsee Giles - Bronze

Chelsee Giles, from Coventry, won Team GB's first medal for Judo. She won Bronze.

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