The Albany Gazette - Hodgkinson, Mahuchikh headline final day of Tokyo worlds

AFP Sport looks at their two events:

- Women's 800m final -

Hodgkinson has admitted she was sweating on her place at the world championships until the last minute.

The 23-year-old Briton was sidelined for months by lingering hamstring problems after winning gold in Paris last summer and only returned to the track in August.

"It was a matter of literally day by day, week by week on what the plan was for a period of time -- there was no plan," said Hodgkinson, who won world silvers in both 2022 and 2023.

"We were just going with what my body was reacting to. Luckily we made it here and we did enough and I'm in this great place."

Hodgkinson made a triumphant return to action last month, running a world-leading time of 1:54.74 at the Silesia Diamond League meet in Poland.

She followed that up with another meet record a week later in Lausanne, beating Switzerland's in-form Audrey Werro to put herself firmly among the favourites for the world title.

Hodgkinson, who could well be Britain's best remaining hope of winning a gold at these championships, will be up against not only Werro but also Kenya's defending world champion Mary Moraa, Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia and Australia's Jessica Hull

Hodgkinson said she was "not really an athlete that needs loads of races" to be ready to compete.

"I've been losing my mind. I've been so bored just waiting for it to come around," she said.

"So I was really excited to get out there and it's our turn to have some fun and get on the stage."

- Women's high jump final -

World record holder and Olympic gold medallist Mahuchikh defends the title she won on a tear-filled night in Budapest in 2023.

The Ukrainian sailed through qualification, but there will be stiff competition in the final, notably from the Australian duo of Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.

"To make the final with only one attempt over 1.92m is confirmation of my shape and confidence," said Mahuchikh, who won Olympic gold in Paris last year after winning bronze at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

"I felt incredible. I have been flying. The field in the final will be strong. I'm so glad we have more and more female high jumpers over 2.00m. It gives extra motivation to me."

After Olyslagers pipped her in the Diamond League final in Zurich, Mahuchikh had a training camp in Japan before relocating to Tokyo.

"We managed to improve a couple of technical things. Now I'm ready to defend my title," she said.

Olyslagers, who has won silver at the last two Olympics, said she was trying to enjoy the moment "because I know being in a good shape for a world championships is very rare".

"At times I pushed too hard and something broke, so I hope my body and mind are great for the final."

(L.Thomas--TAG)