The world indoor trio continued their fine form at the Golden Gala with wins for Codery and Hunter Bell and a personal best over 400m for Hodgkinson.
Molly Cowdery, Georgia Hunter Bell and Keely Hodgkinson, Britain’s three golden girls from the World Indoor Championships earlier this year, reunited at the Diamond League in Rome on Thursday (June 4) and they had equally impressive results.
At the World Indoors in March, the trio won a hat-trick of gold medals within half an hour. women’s pole vault, 800 m and: 1500 m. Two months and two weeks later, they haven’t lost their Midas touch either.
Cowdrey was first to win the pole vault earlier in the evening, clearing 4.80m to beat Olympic champion Nina Kennedy (Australia) and European champion Angelica Moser (Switzerland), the latter winning her Euro title at the same Stadio Olimpico arena two years ago.
Hodgkinson was next, running over 400m instead of his specialist 800m. As expected, he clocked a PB of 51.14, but may have been a little disappointed that he didn’t break 51 seconds. There were even hopes in his training group that he could run before the age of 50.
However, it was a rare 400m race from Hodgkinson as Norway’s Henriette Jaeger took victory in 49.60 with British record holder Amber Anning fifth in 50.19 and Hodgkinson seventh.
While Hodgkinson tested his speed, Hunter Bell stretched his legs in the 1500m and looked in top form as he kicked past Nicky Hiltz on the final bend to draw clear to win easily in 3:58.63.
Fellow Brits Gemma Rickey and Laura Muir didn’t enjoy such a great race as Rickey finished 11th in 4:05.39 and Muir 14th in 4:10.54.
“I was very happy with today because Rabat was a bit of a tough start,” Cowdery said of last weekend’s Diamond League, where he finished seventh at 4.60m. “I pretend this is my season opener and not Rabat.”
Cowdery added that he only used a short run of 10 paces in Rome. “I know I’m in good shape and there’s a lot more to come,” he said. “It’s a long season, so I take care of my body.”
Julien Alfred and Noah Lyles won big sprint battles.
In the women’s 200m, Alfred beat USA’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in 21.93 (1.3) to 22.17, with Britain’s Amy Hunt and Dina Usher-Smith fourth and fifth in 22.52 and 22.76 respectively.
American Lyles won the men’s 100m with a time of 9.88 (0.4), ahead of Cameroon’s Emmanuel Esseme (9.94), Letsile Tebogo (9.95) and Jordan Anthony (9.96) of the United States (9.96) and Italy’s 2021 Olympic champion Marcel Gacco (9.99).
Elsewhere, the meet saw the biggest javelin throw since the Paris Olympics when Rumesh Tharanga Pathiraj threw 92.62m.
It moves Sri Lanka to 8th on the world all-time list and is the biggest throw since Arshad Nadeem’s 92.97m at the Paris Games.
Gabriel Tual hit his shot to perfection to win the men’s 800m in 1:43.66 as Ireland’s Mark English finished second in a remarkable 1:43.80.
Emma Zapletalova continued her excellent recent form in the women’s 400m hurdles with a world-leading mark and Slovakian record of 52.58.
The men’s shot put took home victory for Leonardo Fabbri as he threw 22.14m to beat Americans Joe Kovacs and Ryan Kruse.
