Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has branded the Enhanced Games as “nonsense”, emphasising the importance of respecting athletes who achieve success through hard work rather than banned substances. The controversial event, held in Las Vegas last Sunday, saw only one performance that bettered—but did not break—an existing world record.
Enhanced Games Under Fire
Sprinter Fred Kerley won the 100m in 9.97 seconds, a time that would have failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics final, where he claimed a bronze medal in 9.81 seconds. However, Kerley has since been handed a two-year ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency due to whereabouts failures last year.
Speaking ahead of the Diamond League season, where Hodgkinson is set to open her outdoor campaign in the 400m in Rome next Thursday, the 24-year-old criticised the Enhanced Games for undermining the ethics of clean sport.
“I think it is just having an appreciation for the hard work and dedication that we put in,” Hodgkinson remarked. “The sport has done a great job over the last couple of decades of making it a clean sport. I do trust the people that I race against, and it's not a thought in my brain that I think about. So yeah, we will call that thing nonsense, because that's what it was. But I just think appreciation for the athletics and all the work you put in day in and day out to be down the line.”
World Record Ambitions
Hodgkinson has confirmed her participation in the Diamond League stop at the Novuna London Athletics Meet in July, where she will target the women’s 800m outdoor world record. After a superb training run, she has put an injury-ravaged 2025 season behind her.
To break the record, Hodgkinson needs to beat Jarmila Kratochvilova’s mark of 1:53.28, with her personal best currently standing at 1:54.61. “I would love to have that happen on home soil,” she said. “I get really excited about London. The whole crowd and competing as a British person is just so much fun. It's definitely the main thing I'm looking forward to this year on the calendar.”
She added: “We have a plan A of what we would like to happen, but the sport has its own plans sometimes. It's not something you can straight away plan. If I happen to come into shape sooner or later in the season, that could just be how it goes. So far the preparation has gone very, very well. I'm very happy with where I'm at, building on the indoor season. I've been healthy for a year now, and I've not missed a training session. We've got ideas of what we want to do in Stockholm and then going on to Pre. It's hard because there are other people in the race, and I want to respect them and make sure I win these races too. There's a lot to consider, but we'll see how I split the season into two halves. I like to do the Diamond League season, get to London, then the second half comes with the championships and Birmingham and things that I'm excited about.”
Keely Hodgkinson will compete in the Diamond League at the Novuna London Athletics Meet at the London Stadium on 18 July.
