Georgia Hunter Bell and Keely Hodgkinson have to settle for silver and bronze as Lilian Odira claims gold in Tokyo; Hodgkinson had led for much of the race but was overtaken in the closing stages; Odira set new World Championship record

Team GB pair Georgia Hunter Bell and Keely Hodgkinson finished second and third in a high-quality women’s 800m final at the World Championships.

Lilian Odira took the gold medal, overtaking the British pair at the last moment in Tokyo.

Hodgkinson led the race for long spells and a GB one-two looked on the cards until Odira blazed past the pair in 1:54.62, a new championship record.

Hunter Bell ran a superb personal best of 1:54.90 to beat Olympic champion Hodgkinson by 0.01 seconds.

It was the first time a British pair have won two medals in the same event of the World Championships for 18 years.

Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell had to wait before screens inside the stadium showed the latter, who claimed 1500m bronze on her Olympic debut in Paris last summer, had got over the line faster by the finest of margins.

Hunter Bell had debated racing at both distances at these championships before deciding to focus on the 800m, and was even prep camp room-mates with bronze medallist Hodgkinson.

It was nevertheless a brave and determined showing for Hodgkinson, who just last month returned from a 376-day injury-plagued absence after becoming the Olympic champion.

Hodgkinson: I thought I had won it

“I felt pretty good at the start and it was quick out there and a bit of tussling and surging that might have wasted a bit of energy but I was in it to win it, and when you go in for gold, you risk dropping off the podium or coming second or third,” Keely Hodgkinson told BBC Sport.

“I’m happy for the both of us, we both got a medal, my third 1:54 and to be consistent like that, especially after the year I’ve had, it’s not what I came here for but I can’t be too disappointed.

“I thought I had it. But [Lilian] Odira ran past and I did my best. The last 10m my legs were falling off. I ran it how I ran it and this is what the result is.”

Hunter Bell: I’m so happy

“I wanted to show what I can do in the 800m and I knew I had to come into it fresh if I wanted to get a medal and doing both [800m and 1500m] would be too hard,” Georgia Hunter Bell told BBC Sport. “The competition is so good.

“I’m so happy, the fastest time I’ve ever run. I knew it would be fast from seeing the girls in the field but I was just like ‘don’t get dropped’ and try to hang on to get the kick in the end.”