Keely Hodgkinson made a striking change to her usual look at the European Athletics Championship, wearing sunglasses during her qualifying heat on Tuesday. The 24-year-old joked she was trying to avoid "early botox".
Joking About Wrinkles
"It's sunny out there. I'm trying not to get wrinkles and stop the Botox early," she said. "So, sunglasses had to go on today. Sometimes it's quite nice just to block everything out. I train with sunglasses on all the time."
However, when she raced in the semi-finals on Thursday, she was without the glasses.
Chasing a Fifth Title
Hodgkinson again cruised round the track to qualify for the final, admitting she is out to create a legacy. "It's always all about medals. They create legacy," she said.
"This will be hopefully my fifth back-to-back title and as I said before, that's like five years of consistency. It'll take me five more years to do that, so I'm very happy to be here. I think the Europeans are just as important as the rest."
Inspired by the Crowd
She added: "I got goosebumps and it was very motivating. It was like I was ready, heard the crowd and I'm like, OK, now I'm even more ready. So it's moments like this I thoroughly enjoy training for and yeah, I'm so excited to be ready."
Asked about young fans sporting Keely t-shirts, she said: "It was so sweet. I think it's really, really great. I think our generation is definitely very big on getting the younger kids, boys and girls, involved and it's really nice to see that."
"Whether they want to become an Olympian or not, my big message is just to try sport. I think it gives you a lot back in life, it teaches you discipline, determination. I've met people all over the world, I've got friends everywhere and it's a fantastic group of people."
