In truth, there was little more Hodgkinson could do. Perfectly placed behind the leaders in third for most of the race, she swept past Kenya’s eventual bronze medallist Mary Moraa with 200m to go and moved onto Mu’s heel.
A gap then emerged on the inside as the American swung into the home straight, allowing Hodgkinson to almost draw alongside, but she could not quite edge her way in front. So exhausted was Mu by her exertions that she was then withdrawn from the American 4x400m team later in the night.
“I took the shortest route,” said Hodgkinson. “I sat in and bided my time. I was confident, comfortable. She simply had that bit extra today. I don’t think I did anything wrong, it just wasn’t my time for gold yet. I just need to find that extra one per cent next year, don’t I?”
Of her burgeoning rivalry with Mu, she added: “I have a lot of respect for her with what we’ve gone through: a lot of changes this year, being professional athletes, being so young, but also the pressures of trying to stay on top and chase each other. It’s a good rivalry and good friendship.
“We don’t race each other that much, which I think is a good thing because it builds up the tension of the across-the-pond rivalry. I think we can push each other to new heights trying to stay on top. We’ll see what happens.”
‘There is so much potential in this team’
The British team brought the curtain down on their World Championships campaign with bronze in the final race of the night, the women’s 4x400m, to finish with a total of seven medals. That was their highest tally since 2015, although Jake Wightman’s 1,500m victory was the only gold, meaning they finished 11th in the medal table.
Britain had narrowly missed out on women’s 4x400m medals when finishing fourth and fifth at their last two global events, but the quartet of Victoria Ohuruogu, Nicole Yeargin, Jessie Knight and Laviai Nielsen ended their run of near-misses in Eugene with bronze.
Finishing more than two seconds ahead of fourth, Britain clocked 3:22.64, with the rampant Americans claiming gold in 3:17.79 and Jamaica silver in 3:20.74.
“It has been such a dream running with these girls,” said Knight, who replaced Ama Pipi in the team from the heats.
“There is so much potential in this team and there are other girls not running here at the moment as well. I just want to soak this up, these moments don’t come around very often.”