For Keely Hodgkinson, this was Groundhog Day with a twist. Once again Britain's most precocious female athlete arrived at a major world final believing a gold was there for the taking. And once again she had to settle for a solid silver.
On a night when the National Athletics Centre felt like a giant Turkish bath, with temperatures in the 30s and the humidity instantly sweat-inducing, the 21-year-old from Wigan finally beat her nemesis - the American Athing Mu, who had beaten her into second at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 world championships in Eugene. However she had no answer to the Kenyan Mary Moraa, who struck for home coming into the final straight to win in 1min 56.03sec.
"I was really looking forward to today," Hodgkinson said. "I was really up for it. I believed I was going to win. You've got to believe, that's half the battle. It's a different order this year. Who knows what it will be next year. One of these days I will get the top spot. Today it's just not meant to be."
At one point, when Moraa and Mu moved into the second and third lanes as they slugged it out, it looked like Hodgkinson might sneak to glory in lane one, as if by stealth. But while she clawed her way past Mu, the line came too soon.
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