Keely Hodgkinson was gracious in defeat after missing out on a £110,000 payday in the finals of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, sharing a clip of herself all-smiles while riding through Budapest on a scooter on Saturday evening.
The 24-year-old was narrowly pipped to the post in the 800m final by Audrey Werro in the Hungarian capital, revealing in her post-race interview that she had torn a hamstring a matter of weeks ago.
Proud despite the pain
Beaming with pride despite the narrow defeat, Hodgkinson told the BBC: "Where do I start? On the outside, people might think I'd be disappointed with that but I'm actually quite proud of how I approached that.
"When was the Europeans? Three or four weeks ago? I unfortunately tore my hamstring during that race. I didn't even know if I was going to be here. It was really touch and go. I was on it with the rehab. I owe a lot to my team and the doctors.
I was really close and I was going for the win, but I'm proud of how we all handled that."
Expletive slip and BBC apology
When probed on how she had readied herself for one of the biggest races of her career, Hodgkinson appeared to let an expletive slip as the BBC briefly cut their audio for the broadcast.
She added: "Excuse my French! There's a lot of work and testing it session-by-session, which is why I only made the decision a week ago.
"It's been a bit of a frustrating season but overall I'm finishing second in the world. I can't be too hard on myself for that."
The interviewer also apologised for any language in between questions, explaining how "emotions were high," on the night.
Smiles in Budapest
While Hodgkinson will have been disheartened to have missed out on the £110k winner's prize that came with Werro's first-place finish in the final, the Team GB star didn't let the race put a dampener on her night.
The Atherton-born middle-distance runner took to Instagram to share a video of herself riding through Budapest on an electric scooter, all smiles as she said: "What a beautiful night."
Hodgkinson then flipped the camera on herself as she was spotted beaming ear to ear while laughing. The next upload on the stories section of the athlete's account, meanwhile, showed her dolled to the nines and smiling for a photo alongside Team GB teammate Georgia Hunter-Bell.
After receiving a generous £55,000 second-place prize at the Championship, Hodgkinson explained how she could still race again next week before enjoying a "well-earned break."
