KEELY HODGKINSON was crowned with a Tiffany TIARA worth £20,000 by tennis legend Serena Williams after winning at a glitzy New York meet.
The Team GB icon – whose hopes of world gold were dashed last month in Tokyo by Kenyan Lilian Odira as she had to settle for bronze – ran 1:56.53 at the all-female Athlos meeting in the Big Apple.
Hodgkinson, 23, ended her injury-hampered season by having a crown placed on her head by former tennis champion Williams, who is behind this new venture with her rich husband.
Fellow Briton Georgia Hunter Bell, the world silver medallist, took second in 1:58.33 on Friday night.
Olympic champ Hodgkinson said: “I’ve barely raced this season so it was probably less of a struggle for me to go out there and want to give it something.
“The atmosphere out there is crazy so it was really, really fun.”
Meanwhile, Hodgkinson has welcomed the challenge of facing multi-talented Femke Bol on the Road to the LA Olympics.
Bol, 25, will step up from the 400 metres hurdles, where she has won numerous medals at various levels, to the 800 metres in 2026.
Britain’s Golden Girl is the reigning Olympic champion over two laps and one of the fastest women in history.
But she has no issue taking on the flying Dutchwoman from next year and even at the next Olympics in California.
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Hodgkinson added: “She actually texted me before she announced it. We are really good friends. Have been friends for a really long time.
“I really respect our friendship. I think it’s brave and courageous to be honest.
“I don’t think Femke has any experience in middle-distance at all. To want to take that step, and to come into an event that has been really firing.
“Girls are running insanely fast times, I commend her for wanting to do that.
“I wish her all the best and I think she has the talent to do really well in the 800.
“It might take some time to learn the event. She has never run with people around you, who are trying to disrupt your race.
“It’s a whole different ball game. But I think she will smash it and I look forward to seeing what she does.”
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