QUEEN KEELY

Golden girl Hodgkinson: I felt awful

- ALAN SMITH

KEELY HODGKINSON battled through illness to remain the queen of Europe and admitted: "That's the worst I've ever felt racing." The 22-year-old led from the outset to win a second continental 800m gold in 1min 58.65secs.

While the manner of victory was not as convincing as anticipated, she had spent much of the day thinking about withdrawing because of a virus.

"It's not been the greatest 24 hours," Hodgkinson said. "I would have liked a better time but it was just about finding a way to win." With a personal best four seconds faster than the rest of the field, she was priced up at 1/33 by the bookies.