Sebastian Coe, the double Olympic 1500m gold medallist and former world record holder, has hailed Keely Hodgkinson as a potential all-time great ahead of the world championships in Tokyo. Speaking on the eve of the event, Coe described the 23-year-old British 800m runner as 'mahogany hard' mentally and predicted she could end her career at the top of the international heap.
Coe, who broke nine world records and held the 800m world record for 18 years, praised Hodgkinson's resilience after she returned from hamstring and back injuries to run 1min 54sec in Silesia in August, followed by a 1:55 in Lausanne four days later. 'You have to marvel at how she has come back,' Coe said, noting that her back-to-back races were a clever test of her endurance for the Tokyo championships.
Coe also singled out Australian teenage sprinter Gout Gout, 17, who has run a wind-assisted 9.98sec for the 100m and 19.84 for 200m. 'He's the real deal,' Coe said, but cautioned against burdening him with medal expectations. 'He's probably at this moment too young to be afraid and doesn't quite understand how complicated it gets later on.'
On logistical matters, Coe assured that World Athletics is prepared for potential typhoons in Tokyo, following tropical storm Tapah's disruption in Hong Kong. 'We do have the full meteorological prediction and predictive teams out there at the moment,' he said.
