Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson has broken Kelly Holmes' national record in the 800-metre sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Keely Hodgkinson
The 19-year-old athlete was reduced to tears when she realised she had bagged herself the silver medal and a new British record after she slashed half a second off of the legendary sportswoman's time in 1995 - making her the eighth fastest woman in the 800m of all time - on Tuesday (03.08.21).
Keely told the BBC after the race: “It was so open and I wanted to put it all out there, I’m so happy.
"Kelly Holmes is a legend. I’ve looked up to her and spoken to her in the last couple of days, she’s a lovely person.
"I just have no words. It means so much, and thank you to everyone that has sent messages over the past couple of days.
"If the Olympics had been last year I wouldn’t have been here, but suddenly it’s given me a year to grow and compete with these girls."
Keely crossed the finishing line at 1:55.88, just behind the USA's Athing Mu who secured herself gold, but it was the fight for third place that was close as GB's Jemma Reekie look set to walk away with the bronze medal before Raevyn Roger, from the USA, nipped her to it by just 0.09 seconds.
Despite not making it to the podium, Jemma still managed to set a personal best of one minute 56.90 seconds.
Jemma said: "I wanted to win, but sometimes you have to learn. Paris isn’t too far away. I wanted to do better. I am going to be hard on myself because I wanted to win but I think I’ll look back in two years’ time and realise how well I’ve done."
GB's Alex Bell also ran the final and, although she came seventh, she still managed a personal best with 1.57.66.
She explained: "I’m glad that I’ve got a PB out of it, I was just so focused on not coming last!
"I wasn’t even bothered about the time during the race. But that’s just racing, when you’re focused on the race the times just follow."