Hodgkinson has endured two injury-plagued seasons since winning Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, waiting for more than a year to race again after suffering a hamstring injury the following February.
Impressing on her return in August 2025 with back-to-back Diamond League wins, she went on to set a new indoor 800m world record in February 2026 before winning gold at the World Indoor Championships a month later.
However, she has been unable to replicate that form outdoors, suffering three defeats by Werro, including losing her European crown to the 22-year-old.
Hodgkinson has since said she suffered a freak injury while jogging along a canal during a warm-down session, sustaining cuts to both knees and whiplash-like jarring in her back which have made the past few months a “battle”.
But, while acknowledging that the fall could have contributed to her injury at the European Championships – which ruled her out of Diamond League meets in Zurich and Brussels – she stressed she is not making excuses.
“Part of me wants to talk about it and then part of me doesn’t, because I feel like my words get twisted or people are like ‘oh, she’s making excuses’,” Hodgkinson said.
“Going into the Europeans, I thought I was in the best shape ever. But when I fell over, that kind of messed me up way more than I thought it did. I think that’s what contributed to my hamstring, because I couldn’t really use my quad for a while.”
Speaking after her defeat by Werro at the Ultimate Championship, Hodgkinson described 2026 as “frustrating” but remained optimistic: “Overall, I’m finishing second in the world and I can’t really be too hard on myself for that.”
Hodgkinson will end her 2026 season in London at the all-female Athlos event, launched by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, on Friday.
