Keely Hodgkinson’s track spikes set two different national records
The British runner's shoes had a pretty good day at the office, setting records for both Britain and Italy
On Feb. 19 at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, U.K., 19-year-old Olympic silver medallistKeely Hodgkinson broke the British indoor 800m record in her first race of the season, with a time of 1:57.20. After setting the record, Hodgkinson lent her spikes to Italy’s Ossama Meslek, who set a national record for Italy in his 1,500m race.
Keely Hodgkinson’s size 7 shoes set two national records today in B’ham.
Ossama Meslek was a late entry to the 1500m and I hear he borrowed a pair of Keely’s spikes to run in.
His 3:37.29 broke Giuseppe D'Urso’s Italian record, while Keely clocked a 1:57.20 UK 800m record.
— Jason Henderson (@Jason_AW) February 19, 2022
Meslek, who was a late entry to the men’s 1,500m, forgot his spikes at the hotel and was forced to find a pair to borrow that would fit his men’s US size 7 feet. He ended up borrowing Hodgkinson’s, who had just set a new British record in them. Meslek ran a two-second personal best time of 3:37.29 to break Giuseppe D’Urso’s 25-year-old Italian national record 3:37.50 over 1,500 metres.
Meslek’s time was also under the world indoor championship standard of 3:39.00, which will book him a ticket to next month’s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
It is not often that you see one pair of track spikes set two different national records in the span of an hour. Meslek, who is currently with Adidas, might be adding Hodgkinson’s Nike spikes to his shoe lineup after his large PB.
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