2024 Olympics gold medal winner Hodgkinson launching own athletics meet
Whisper will provide production, event management and digital content for the Keely Klassic, an athletics meet launched by Olympics 800m gold medal and BBC SPOTY winner Keely Hodgkinson.
The production company will work with Forte Management and UK Athletics to deliver full event management, including in-arena visuals, as well as broadcast and digital content from the Utilita Arena, Birmingham. There will be a focus on appealing to younger fans in the stadium, which are a target audience for the event.
Taking place on Saturday 15 February, the meet will see Hodgkinson attempt to break the current 800m short track world record of 1 minute 55.82 seconds, which was set on the day of her birth, 3 March 2002. The event will combine music and entertainment with top level athletics.
Whisper produced BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in 2024, the first year that the BBC didn’t produce the event in-house, where Hodgkinson won.
Hodgkinson said: “I’m so excited about the first ever Keely Klassic. It’s a game changing new event that I believe will help take to athletics to a whole new audience in the UK and around the world. Having Whisper as our production partners has really helped elevate what we are doing. I can’t wait to see everyone in Birmingham on Saturday.”
Whisper CEO and co-founder Sunil Patel added: ‘Having worked with Keely at BBC Sports Personality of the Year, this was an easy event to say yes to. Whisper is becoming increasingly well-known for delivering entertaining and engaging events at quality and scale. Saturday promises to be a brilliant day of action – especially with Keely going for a world record on her birthday – and Whisper is thrilled to playing a part in making sure that the athletes, their sporting efforts, and the whole event is given the platform they deserve. Thanks to Forte Management for getting us involved, and to UK Athletics for all their support.’
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