Georgia Hunter Bell and Molly Caudery in fine form in Birmingham as Lina Nielsen and Neil Gourley set national indoor records

No Keely, no problem. The inaugural Keely Klassic did not feature the Olympic 800m champion in action on the track, but the event in Birmingham on Saturday (Feb 15) still bubbled along with a number of top-quality events.

Georgia Hunter Bell narrowly missed Laura Muir’s UK indoor 1500m record with training partner Sarah Healy clocking an Irish record in second.

The meeting did see some British records, though, with Lina Nielsen and Neil Gourley setting new national figures in the women’s 300m and men’s 1000m respectively.

In the field, Molly Caudery showed encouraging form in the pole vault with a 4.73m win ahead of the European and world indoor championships.

)

Hunter Bell was coming off a fine victory in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games seven days earlier. Following the pacemaker through 800m in 2:09.87, she then took the lead with Healy close behind, passing 1000m in 2:42.79 and the bell in 3:30.4 before coming home in 4:00.63, narrowly missing Muir’s UK record of 3:59.58, as Healy improved the Irish record to 4:01.62.

“There are so many young people here – and especially girls – who look up to what Keely has achieved,” said Hunter Bell. “There seemed to be more fun and a bit less pressure today, which was fun.”

On the record bid, she added: “I’m proud about how I went for it and it’s important to always try to shoot for it so it gives me confidence that I can win races when it’s scrappy like in New York (Millrose Games) and also when I front run.”

Healy said: “It definitely felt like a good team effort and we knew we were going to push each other. I knew Georgia was going to go for the record and so I slotted in behind. I wanted to try to help out if I could but that didn’t happen although maybe another day I will.”

Hodgkinson was of course at the event and spent the day buzzing around signing autographs for the dozens of young Keely-ites in the audience and cheering on her GB team-mates. These included Caudery, who cleared 4.73m to back up recent 4.75m results in Karlsruhe and Lievin.

The world indoor champion retired at that height but her performance bodes well for the rest of the season. “I missed my first two competitions this season as I was dealing with a very small hamstring thing from training in South Africa,” she said. “But I’m really glad to clear my heights today off a short approach and I’ll go up to a full approach next week at the UK Indoor Champs.”

She added: “It’s probably been my best winter ever. Training has been amazing.”

Nielsen set the first British record of the day with 36.53 in the 300m. Taking down Dina Asher-Smith’s national mark of 36.77, Nielsen led Emily Newnham (36.88) and Ama Pipi (37.22) home.

“I’m just so happy I committed,” said Nielsen. “I needed to go through 200m fast and I did. I’ve got big goals this year and that was a good start. You need a specific race plan in the 300m as you’re running up two ‘hills’ or slopes and you need to make sure you attack each of those.”

Gourley broke Charlie Grice’s UK indoor 1000m record of 2:17.20 with 2:16.74 but he was out-kicked on the final lap by Samuel Chapple, who beat Rob Druppers’ long-standing Dutch record with 2:16.09 after taking the lead through 800m in 1:46.9. In third, Alex Botterill ran 2:17.25.

“I feel like I’ve worked very hard today,” said Gourley. “I’ve felt tired this week but was committed to giving myself this hard effort which will hopefully bring me on a bit. I have a lot of fitness behind me but not as much sharpness.”

Neil Gourley (Getty)

There was another record attempt in the men’s 600m and a near miss for Callum Dodds. The target was Thomas Staines’ 75.31 from 2023 but Dodds clocked 75.81.

“It was close so it’s a bit frustrating and I felt I had a bit more in the tank,” said Dodds. “In the second half of the race I think I lost a little bit of momentum.”

It wasn’t all about British records either. With a time of 1:45.78 in the 800m, the up-and-coming Justin Davies broke a Welsh record which had been held by Joe Thomas since 2012.

)

The women’s 800m was a slightly slower affair but won impressively by Issy Boffey as she went from last to first in the final lap to win in 2:01.69 – a qualifying mark for the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.

)

Elsewhere, Patrik Domotor of the Slovak Republic – one of several international visitors at the meeting – won the men’s 400m in 46.61 ahead of Efe Okoro’s 46.84.

Yoshiki Kinashi of Japan won the men’s 60m in 6.72 with Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake runner-up in 6.66, with Mitchell-Blake later returning to win the 200m in 21.16, albeit in literally a two-man race. “I wanted more but I have to be grateful to be healthy,” said Mitchell-Blake. “I have to keep grinding and see where it takes me.

“The 200m is my baby. The 60m, I love, but it doesn’t seem to love me. And with the 100m, we have our moments.”

Amy Hunt beats Mabel Akande (Getty)

Amy Hunt clocked 7.24 ahead of the defence of her UK Champs 60m title defence next weekend as Mabel Akande was runner-up 7.28. “I think it’s been the old Amy at these races lately and I’m waiting for the new Amy to turn up,” said Hunt. “So it’s definitely a work in progress right now. We’re trying to piece things together and I’m racing back to back in the next three weeks now.”

Sprint hurdles victories went to Rafael Pereira in 7.66 and Marika Majewska with 8.15 ahead of Abigail Pawlett, the latter clocking 8.15 just one day after setting a British Universities Championship record of 8.11 in Sheffield.

In the long jump, Eusebio Caceres, a former European under-23 champion from Spain, won with 7.73m as Britain’s Jacob Fincham-Dukes was runner-up with 7.68m. “It wasn’t my best day and I really had to fight for it,” said Fincham-Dukes.

Hodgkinson would much rather have been a competitor than a spectator, but said: “When I saw the branding for the meeting, it looked so good. But I was gutted not to race, so I have mixed emotions.”

.

» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here