Keely Hodgkinson is struggling to sit still, which is hardly surprising for someone more at home with sprinting towards the finish line in the women's 800m than discussing the intricate details of her beauty and wellness regime.
We're chatting on Zoom, me in London, Keely in Manchester – an interview in which she walks around with her laptop, laces up her trainers and snatches mouthfuls of toast between answers as she's off to training immediately afterwards.
Keely first came to our attention at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when she won silver and set a new British record. When I congratulate her on her recent Paris Olympics gold medal win, she smiles shyly and quietly thanks me.
That's the curious thing about Keely – she's not what you expect off the track. There's no denying she is laser focussed on being a champion and pushing her body to be in the best possible form.
But the first thing that strikes you is her lack of ego. In fact, she says that one of the biggest misconceptions about her is that “I like the attention more than I actually do." If anything, she seems perplexed by her new-found fame, although she also admits that she's too polite to turn anyone away if they approach her on the street or in restaurants to ask for a selfie.
Keely is also the glamorous-but-smart girl next door. You immediately hit it off because you both like the same mascara and look at Pinterest for beauty inspiration, but she talks about what true equality in sport looks like with a wisdom beyond her 22 years.
So how does a world-class athlete prepare her mind and body for competition? And what is the best sweat-proof makeup routine? Over to you Keely Hodgkinson…
I get ready to compete as if I’m going out.
It fully takes me two hours to get ready before a competition, where I do everything: get my bag ready, shower, hair, makeup and tan with the Tan-Luxe tan drops or the Molly-Mae Filter Mousse. That for me feels like I'm getting ready to go and do something, so I guess it's like a mental mantra for myself.
I'll always take my Rimmel lip liner in Spice and a lip gloss to the track. They're my staples and probably the last thing I put on before I go out to race. Everything else I like to do before.
With my makeup, I just like my skin to look really nice. I don't do too much, but I do like to do it as if I was going out. I love a pink blush and use Charlotte Tilbury's Beauty Light Wand and the matte Blush Wand. I want to experiment with some other colours as well, like red and even purple. I think purple can actually look quite nice. That would be more out there for race days.
I don't use [false] lashes because my eyes just can't take it. On race days, in case I blink and they are annoying me, that's the last thing I want. But I do always curl my eyelashes and put mascara on - I like Kylie Jenner's Wisp Lash Mascara.
In our space on the track, that's where you can showcase the difference between people. Some people are obviously more out there than others, but I go by "look good, feel good, race good." So whatever makes you feel good and feel different from others, I think you should do it, but with confidence. I think that's great about being a track athlete.
I'll see how I feel on the week, what I fancy. I will look at Pinterest for some inspo. My mind associates that [hair and makeup] with race day.
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Sweat-proof makeup is all about the base.
Currently I use the Refy Face Primer because I don't want something too sticky. I use that first and then I go in with the Rimmel matte primer and then I just put concealer on top. So far that has worked because the problem is, if you go too heavy on the foundation, when you do sweat, you can see the lines.
I've never bought the same perfume twice.
One of my favourite perfumes is Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Grand Soir. It's an amber scent – I like it because it is very strong and a bit fruity and oudie at the same time. And I just have a lot of nice memories attached to it. The perfumes that stick out, I can remember the smells and it links to a period of time. So maybe in a couple of years I'd go back [to this one] but in the last two or three years, I've never bought the same perfume twice. I always like to move on to new things.
I did feel the pressure in Paris but I kept telling myself that if I wasn't in that position, I would want to be.
When I was younger, I would look at someone like Jess Ennis. You think, “Oh, I want to be like her”. Then you are and you're like, “Oh no, no, I don't want to be”. You have to embrace it.
For me, I like to get off my phone [before a race] and not really talk to anybody. Maybe a few hours prior I just watch a movie or listen to music or plan what I'm going to do. It helps slow down time because you're not just sat there on your phone. You're a bit more present and things seem a little more realistic. I feel like that calms me down.
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Cherry juice is really good for recovery.
I take my vitamins every day. I take multivitamins, probiotics, omegas, vitamin C, vitamin D. I have low iron, so I also take an iron supplement. I have protein shakes throughout the year. Cherry juice is actually really good for recovery as well. It's got antioxidants in it, so it's good for when you're ill and I use it going into races as it's really meant to help your body recover.
I also ice bath a lot in between rounds [during a race]. So in our world, that's actually not that crazy.
When I was at the Olympics, Nike gave me these new innovation boots and they honestly looked like moon boots. I looked like an absolute weirdo walking around in them, but they're this new compression technology they're working on where they squeeze your feet and heat up at the same time and it's meant to be really good for recovery. Nobody's seen it yet or had that technology in the athletic world, so they were a bit like, “What is she doing?'
I love my skincare – I've probably tried every single brand out there.
I'm really big on skin. I never go to sleep with makeup on, no matter how tired I am. That's a rule. I've always been into skincare since I was younger. I used to use The Body Shop a lot. Then I was breaking out a little bit and you have to find what works for you. It is definitely a process.
I have different routines for morning and night. It seems quite intensive, but for me it just works. In the morning, I wash my face with a natural soap that one of my friends makes. It's like a turmeric glow bar, but I quite like the fact that it's natural with nothing harmful in it.
I go in with a collagen type serum on the face first. Then I have a barrier cream from Kiehl's because I get really dry skin and that cream's good because it's thick. Then always SPF on top. I have a range of different ones but right now I'm using Supergoop! Glowscreen as it makes the skin look really nice.
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In the evening, I wash my skin and use my gua sha. I use the Rodial Dragon's Blood moisturiser and I have this overnight vitamin C serum from Kiehl's, as well as the Midnight Recovery Eye cream. I've got my dad's genes, so I struggle with under-eye bags.
If my beauty cupboard was on fire I'd save my Biodance Bio-Collagen Masks that you keep on for four hours. They're popular on TikTok and really, really good.
A lot of my skin problems were down to the fact that I wasn't getting enough sleep.
My skin was always pretty good, to be fair. I wasn't a teenager that broke out massively so I never felt like I was really under confident with having bad skin. But I always had super red, pigmented cheeks. That was my thing. I think I was born with it so I just wanted to find skincare when I was younger that would stop the odd little spots coming through, as every teenager does.
But I actually found a lot of my problems were [down to the fact] that I wasn't getting enough sleep. I just looked tired all the time. And I'm the type person when I look tired, you can really see it around my eyes.
So one thing that really helped is literally just getting more sleep and drinking water. It's like when you go on a plane, you can see and feel the difference in your skin hydration-wise. So for me, a lot of it [self-care] is just in the natural stuff.
On the track – that's the moment where I'm the only person in control of what I can do.
I quite like that. I like being on the track and performing really well and having people there supporting. Especially when it goes amazingly well - those moments are really what you do it for.
As a female athlete, it would be interesting if there was more research about contraception.
Obviously, male and female bodies are very different. I think as a woman we have to deal with our periods and our bodies changing on a weekly basis, our hormones changing. What scares me is that when you open the ingredient's list in a Pill box, it goes on for about a mile. I just think, “What is in that?”. I don't use the Pill currently – I have the coil – but even that, I have a foreign object in me and I have no idea of what it's really doing.
I don't think it [contraception] is seen as being a problem in professional sport. But it can be. When you're coming down to the fine margins, I've had friends that have really struggled or gained weight.
It's just one of those things, especially if you are a young girl, then you could be in relationships and you don't want to have a baby at 20, but you also maybe don't want to put a tiny little pill in your body. So then, unless you have a really nice partner that is fine with wearing condoms, then what are you going to do? Because not everybody has that.
So I think it would just be interesting if there was more research, if there was a better, more natural solution that could be found. I get paid based on my performance on that day and if it's not [great] because of a tiny pill that I'm taking, or a coil in my uterus, then that's a problem.
Gender equality in sports for me is just having the equal opportunities to be seen.
I'm good friends with Ella Toone, the Lioness footballer, and she's obviously in a sport that is quite far divided. One thing she said was, “We're not asking for equal pay,” because that comes from things outside of the sport – that comes from revenue, things pulling in – but just equal opportunities to be seen. I think they're really getting there.
I'm quite fortunate and probably quite proud to be a track event athlete, knowing that it is probably the most equal sport. It is purely on performance, men and women are shown at the exact same time and even Sebastian Coe has said there's been times that women have carried our sport for periods of years.
So I'm quite happy, I feel like it is equal. I've never really seen that as a problem, but in other sports I think it probably still is. But I think, for me, it's just having the equal seen opportunities.
I've always been this deaf, so I don't know any different.
I had hearing problems growing up and we never really knew why until eventually a doctor found the reason [at 13 Keely underwent surgery for a non-cancerous tumour on the left side of her head that caused her to become deaf in one ear].
For me the biggest thing was the surgery because it [the tumour] was so near the brain I could feel it in every step that I took. I could barely walk for a month, which you think is weird because it's in your ear, but it obviously affects your balance and things. It was six months until I could start properly maybe exercising or jumping around. It was just a long, long process.
I did try hearing aids, I didn't like them because there was too much noise and I can still hear fine, just if you're on this side of me [the left side] then I'm like "What? What?". The nurse told me that I do rely on lip reading, which is quite interesting.
I don't worry so much about hearing things around me when I'm on the starting line now. A few times when I was younger maybe the gun was a little bit quieter if you were at more low key meets. But at professional ones now the gun is loud because it's got to be louder than the crowd. When I was younger I think a couple of times I have missed the gun or taken a step and "oh god, they’ve gone."
If I could have a super power, I wish I had super hearing to the point that you could hear those conversations on the other side of the room. I'm nosy!
I believe that comparison is the thief of joy.
Everybody compares because it is, in a way, a human reaction, which is quite natural. But I think it's how you manage those thoughts and emotions. So you could look at somebody else and you almost forget what you've got and the journey that you are on.
I think it's just quite nice to remind yourself of where you are at, and the plan that you have, and to enjoy other people's successes as well as your own.
I don't think you should necessarily suppress emotions because it just comes out worse. I think you should learn to understand it, wonder “Why do you feel that way? Why are you comparing, is it something you are missing?”. I think that's quite a healthy way to go forward.
I only wash my hair once a week, believe it or not.
My hair is a work in progress – that's my new thing now that I've mastered skin for myself. I cut my hair off and I regret it. That's why I got hair extensions.** **A lot of people would say to me, especially because I train so much, that “they'll be a nightmare to handle” and “it's going to ruin your hair”.
But I actually find the opposite. If you look after them well, they can protect your hair because when you are using heat on them, you're not using it on your hair, you're using it on the fake hair. So when I've taken them out, my hair's still really thick and nice.
I only wash my hair once a week, every Thursday, and I love using the Beauty Works 10-in-1 Miracle Spray. I also use the Mielle rosemary oil on my scalp and a silicone head massager. I've found that it's really helped thicken my hair up.
Here's my honest review.
There was a lot of meaning behind my Paris Olympics manicure.
Nike made my nails for me and they had the Greek goddess of victory on them and the purple was the colour of the track. They thought about all the details and they were really great.
My best piece of advice is 'always stay on your own journey.'
Don't compare to others. When I was growing up, I never won everything. There are a lot of people that win things and don't make it to the Seniors and I just kept believing that my time would come and fortunately it did.
I think that was the main thing I picked up when I was younger, that just because you're not winning everything at 14 doesn't mean it's over. I was quite fortunate that I made the Olympic team at 19 but that's not normal. Everybody's journey is different and if you really enjoy something you just keep going with it.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
