It had felt a case of when, not if, Hodgkinson would take her place on the pinnacle of the game ever since she celebrated Olympic silver aged simply 19 on her debut at a worldwide championship in Tokyo.
Denied by Athing Mu on that event, and once more by the American – by simply 0.08 seconds – on the 2022 World Championships, it was Moraa who acquired the higher of Hodgkinson in Budapest final yr as her look ahead to one of many sport’s main prizes went on.
She has damaged her duck – finally.
The emotion could possibly be seen on Hodgkinson’s face metres from the end. With victory confirmed, three years of dedication and dreaming got here pouring out.
The favorite for gold because the quickest lady on this planet this yr – working a full second faster than anybody else – her probabilities of victory had been additional elevated by the absence of Mu.
A fall on the US trials had value the reigning Olympic champion the possibility to defend her crown and it was world champion Moraa who appeared to supply the primary impediment to gold in Paris.
However this time the Briton wouldn’t be denied.
Hodgkinson took cost of the race after 300m, led on the bell, and from there she refused to be moved – even when Moraa tried to tug alongside her.
It’s nonetheless early in her profession, however Hodgkinson is impatient in her bid to ascertain herself as one of many biggest British athletes of all time.
And – now that has the world-beating gold she desperately desired – it’s troublesome to not get enthusiastic about the place she should go from right here.
