Keely Hodgkinson is in the women’s 400m at the Novuna UK Athletics Championships this weekend, a sharp change in lane and distance for the Olympic 800m champion. She goes into Alexander Stadium against a field packed with athletes who have already delivered on bigger stages.
The line-up also includes Amber Anning, the British record holder and 2025 World Indoor Champion, and Yemi Mary John, who anchored the Novuna GB & NI team to bronze at the 2026 World Athletics Relays. That puts Hodgkinson in a race where the 400m specialists are not the only names carrying recent form.
Alexander Stadium and the 400m field
Charlotte Henrich, a 2025 European U20 Champion, is also entered, while Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin add more depth to the event. The championship runs across Saturday and Sunday at Alexander Stadium, so the women’s 400m will be settled inside a meet built around national titles rather than one-off appearances. Keely Hodgkinson heads to Birmingham in the 400m
For Hodgkinson, the move is the story. She is best known for the 800m, but here she has stepped into a shorter race where the rhythm is different, the margin for error is smaller and the front end matters far more than the closing lap that usually defines her.
Amber Anning and Yemi Mary John
Anning brings the most obvious 400m reference point in the field: the British record and a world indoor title from 2025. John arrives with relay speed and a current UK lead behind her name, which adds another layer to a race that is already less predictable because Hodgkinson is there at all.
Georgia Hunter-Bell is chasing the women’s 800m national title after a Diamond League win in Rome, but Hodgkinson’s entry changes the focus of the championship’s middle-distance story. The question now is not whether she belongs in the field; it is how close she can get to runners who are more at home over 400m, and whether that step down produces a serious title challenge or a one-off test inside a crowded championship race.
