Britain’s trio of middle-distance runners will continue in the same race in the UK capital for the first time.
Keeley Hodgkinson, Georgia Hunter Bell and Phoebe Gill will go head-to-head in the 800m at the London Diamond League next month (July 18).
It will be the first time that three British athletes will step on the same start line of the race together in what promises to be one of the highlights of the event.
Hodgkinson has made no secret that she is targeting Yarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old 800m world record of 1:53.28 at the London Stadium.
The Olympic 800m champion and indoor 800m world record holder has eight of the top 10 times in British history and cut his national outdoor record to 1:54.33 at the Stockholm Diamond League.
Hodgkinson was beaten by Audrey Vero on the day, with the Swiss clocking 1:53.98 to become only the third athlete after Kratochvilova and Nadezhda Olizarenko to go under one minute and 54 seconds over two rounds.
Georgia Hunter Bell is in good form ahead of the London Diamond League after winning the British 800m title in Birmingham.
The world 800m silver medalist from Tokyo crushed the field by almost four seconds to set a championship record 1:55.93, the second-fastest time of her career behind 1:54.90 in the Japanese capital.
Meanwhile, Phoebe Gill returns from injury after taking most of 2025 out to recover from a stress fracture in her fibula she suffered last February.
The 19-year-old, who two years ago became the youngest track and field athlete to represent Great Britain at the Olympics in 40 years, has a season’s best of 2:00.81.
Back in 2024, Gill set a European Under-18 800m record of 1:57.86 at the Ireland Milers in Belfast before winning the Great Britain 800m title and then reaching the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics.
