KEELY HODGKINSON will not be allowed to wear her bespoke Nike ‘catsuit’ at the LA 2028 Olympics – due to a sponsors’ clash.
The reigning Olympic 800 metres champion debuted last Friday at the season-ending Athlos meet in North London.
This specially-made black attire, to what Australian icon Cathy Freeman wore at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, was designed in collaboration over the past year with the Nike Innovation team.
Both Hodgkinson, 24, and training partner Georgia Hunter Bell, 32, claimed this could become the signature look in track-and-field within the next two years as stars seek to find a speed advantage in competition.
However, any hopes that could wear this as part of her Olympic title defence are dashed by the fact Team GB have a long-running partnership with rival firm adidas.
For the past 42 years, the British Olympic Association has had a kit agreement in place with the German sportswear giants, a major rival to Nike.
This means that even if Nike were allowed to roll-out the suit at the – and that would need World Athletics’ green light – British athletes would be exempt from donning them in action.
British athletes can wear ‘technical’ items such as spikes or shoes that are made by a different manufacturer but otherwise the full Olympic kit will be once again designed and created by boffins at adidas.
A spokesperson said: “Supported by our partners and in tandem with our sports, we have always worked to provide athlete-centred and innovative kit that supports our teams to perform at their best at both the Summer and Winter Games.
“We’re confident and excited about what’s ahead and the developments we’re working towards for future Games, including Los Angeles 2028.”
– who one day wants a crack at breaking the world record for the women’s 800 metres – could potentially wear the “one-of-one Nike speed suit” at next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
That is because UK Athletics already has a “long-standing partnership with Nike”.
And the governing body say they will “continue to work closely with them to explore performance innovations and future kit developments” for the British squad.
A UK spokesperson said: “The speed suit Keely Hodgkinson wore at Athlos was a bespoke Nike design created specifically for her.
“We are in regular dialogue with Nike regarding all aspects of performance apparel and will continue to assess any innovations that could benefit our athletes in future championship environments.”
Nike say the custom suit, which was worn by Hodgkinson on a recent South Africa training camp, was built to the British athlete’s “exact performance and design specifications” and was “meticulously engineered to help her push the limits of contemporary track and field”.
The “handcrafted” clothes were created at the LeBron James Innovation Center at Nike’s Philip H. Knight Campus in the US State of Oregon.
Not only did it have a “sleek speed hood” but it was left open at the back as wanted to look good and feel “sexy” while racing.
Hannah Amis, director of Innovation Apparel Product Design at , said: “Keely has an immense amount of personal confidence when she wears black.
“It’s sleek, it’s brave, and it allowed us to celebrate her vibrant personality through colour-shifting, 3D-printed vortex generators instead.
“Our team studied every detail of how Keely moves through space, ensuring the suit works with her stride, her mechanics and her race demands, creating a distraction-free fit that allows her to focus solely on performance.”
One “non-negotiable” from Hodgkinson’s perspective is that she will not tuck away her blonde ponytail, even if it does cause a slight aerodynamic drag.
Amis added: “We spent six months endlessly tweaking, shifting and obsessing over every detail.
“Even during our final meeting in Manchester, I checked in to see if she wanted to back out of the hood.
“She told me she was completely all in. When she pulls it up, it creates an absolute zero-distraction zone. She’s locked in.
“Of course, Keely’s ponytail is iconic to who she is as a person, so we engineered an exact, strategic opening to let her hair flow out the back flawlessly.”
