Keely Hodgkinson already breathes rarefied air as an Olympic champion but it took an MRI scan to reveal the slightly stranger way in which the 24-year-old learned she is "built different."
After finishing second to Swiss rival Audrey Werro in the 800 metres final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hodgkinson revealed she had -- just a month earlier -- sustained a grade 2C hamstring tear before the European final in Birmingham.
Last year, Hodgkinson discovered something new during a scan for a previous tear, and she is still trying to determine if it is a blessing or a curse.
From her understanding of the problem, Hodgkinson explained: "My body is quite literally built different. I have two tendons where the tendon tore [last year]. So where everyone has one tendon, mine is split, so I have two.
"We're trying to figure out if it's a strength or a weakness. So, when one of them tore, I still had the other one because it split like this. You don't feel the injury until later on when it got a bit tight."
Hodgkinson believes it is something she was born with, adding: "It's just how I'm made. We found out last year when I tore it on the MRI scan.
"In a pro, it means that when one is down, I can still run on the other one that works. But in a con, maybe it's slightly weaker than the other one that's, like, attached. But that's just scientific details that like, yeah. Whatever."
Hodgkinson left the specifics to her team. Her primary concern, particularly after two injury-plagued years -- including a layoff lasting more than 12 months -- was how it would affect her racing.
"It's a weird one," Hodgkinson explained. "You can still run on them, there's no danger of moving [to the other one].
"I haven't missed any training the last three weeks, I've just had to alter my approach, take my foot off the speed, because that's when it's most risky, and go at it from a strength perspective. My body heals very, very well, so I couldn't really feel anything.
"It feels good. I've not really felt anything for like two weeks now, it's more the mental. You're very hyper-aware, like, 'Oh, is that something? Is it not? Do I trust my body to go again?'"
Hodgkinson will conclude her season on Friday night in London at Athlos, the all-female competition launched by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, who is married to tennis great Serena Williams and also counts Chelsea Women and Angel City FC in his investment portfolio.
She still has her sights set on breaking Jarmila Kratochvilova's 43-year-old 800m world record, and has embraced the emergence of Werro, who set the third and fourth-fastest times in history this year.
Werro is one of just three women -- and the first since 1983 -- to break the one minute, 54 second barrier, and has laid down her own world record target.
"I think it's great," Hodgkinson said. "Before Audrey made her breakthrough, I wanted to get this world record, like, 'I think I'm good, but I need someone to help me push these times.' It's too difficult on your own, it really is.
"Audrey's done incredible this year, but it's still long seconds away, and you do need someone there the entire way. I think we will get that eventually, but my main focus will always be to win."
