Bell Edges Out Hodgkinson as Great Britain Win 800m Silver And Bronze

Georgia Hunter Bell led Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to a British medal double in the world 800m final – but their bid for a stunning one-two was spoiled by Kenya’s Lilian Odira in Tokyo.
Hunter Bell continued her fairytale return to the sport she had quit for five years by edging training partner Hodgkinson to second, 0.28 seconds behind Odira who claimed gold in a championship record one minute 54.62 seconds.
While Hodgkinson, 23, had set her sights on a first world title following successive silvers before her triumph at Paris 2024, bronze represented a remarkable achievement at the end of a season devastated by injury setbacks.
Hunter Bell upgraded her Olympic bronze medal in a personal best time of 1:54.90 – a mere one hundredth of a second ahead of training partner and good friend Hodgkinson.
The two medals took Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s overall tally to five on the last day of the championships, but that final total represented the same as Doha in 2019 and their lowest since Helsinki in 2005, when they won three.