Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, the husband-and-wife coaching team behind Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell, have revealed the secrets behind their athletes' recent gold medal success at the World Indoor Championships in Torun. The coaches believe the best is yet to come for the pair, who won three gold medals in 29 minutes alongside Molly Caudery.
Painter said Hodgkinson felt so good during the warm-up for the 800m final that she thought she might break her own world indoor record, despite having raced twice in two days. 'Warming up she said: “I feel amazing. I won’t be surprised if I get a PB here,”' Painter recalled. 'Afterwards she had no lactic [acid]. And she was like: “I’m just going to do the 4x400m relay,” and an hour later she ran 50.10sec.' No specialist 400m runner ran faster, leading Painter to believe Hodgkinson could challenge the outdoor world record set in 1983.
Painter attributed Hodgkinson's improved form to being 100% healthy for the first time since the 2023 Budapest championships. 'Even at the Paris Olympics she had a bit of a niggle and missed some of the winter. But this year she’s not missed a session,' he said. Support from Nike has provided a physiotherapist and a physiologist, while Hodgkinson's use of Himalayan salt crystals has helped calm her. 'It’s about making the human happy,' Painter added.
Meadows highlighted how Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell push each other in training, with the former possessing more speed and the latter more speed endurance. Despite often competing directly, they remain close friends. 'They’re a dynamic duo,' Meadows said. 'They elevate each other,' Painter added. The coaches noted their different personalities: Hodgkinson is a 'free spirit' who celebrated her birthday with a night out after breaking the world indoor record, while Hunter Bell is more analytical like Meadows.
A key change this winter has been Hodgkinson taking up cycling on easy endurance days, which she enjoys so much that sessions sometimes extend beyond an hour. 'We’ve had to rein her back,' Meadows said. 'It’s just great, though. She finds it so boring on a static bike or the elliptical [machine] in the gym. If she wants to carry on in this sport for a decade or more, we have to let her enjoy life.'
