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THE BBC will not broadcast Keely Hodgkinson’s world record attempt this weekend on their main channels in a stunning snub.

Team GB’s 800 metres Olympic champion is aiming to run the fastest time over the distance indoors on Saturday at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.

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Keely Hodgkinson’s world record attempt will be shown on BBC Iplayer[/caption]

The feat is the headline act of the inaugural Keely Klassic and other top British stars will be involved across the six-hour hybrid athletics/entertainment meeting.

It will be her first appearance in running conditions since the Paris 2024 Olympics when she became Britain’s tenth female track-and-field winner in history.

Yet TV bosses are not showcasing the 4.30pm race on BBC1 or BBC2 and it has been squirrelled away instead on the BBC iPlayer – away from casual viewers.

BBC1 will be showing Blue Planet II – the Green Seas episode was first broadcast on November 26, 2017 – before Final Score, the football results programme, starts at 4.30pm.

Around the same time, BBC2 will show a repeat of the 2022 historical drama Mr Malcolm’s List and then it is an old episode of antiques show Flog It!

The failure to give her event prominence is surprising given that Hodgkinson, 22, was crowned Sports Personality of the Year by the BBC last December.

Hodgkinson’s success at the Stade de France last August was the BBC’s most watched event of the last Olympics with 9.1 million viewers tuning in to see her glory over two laps.

It was one of 14 gold medals for Team GB at the Paris Olympics.

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This year she is going for a Track Treble, trying to win gold at the European Indoors, World Indoors and World Outdoors within the space of seven months.

The BBC declined to comment.

THE completion of major roadworks on Britain’s busiest motorway has been pushed back by NINE months over “extreme weather”.

It comes as drivers have been hit by a chaotic eight-day closure on the M25 as National Highways continues with efforts to improve the roads.

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The £316 million project to make access from the A3 onto the M25 smoother and less congested[/caption]

The motorway will first face disruption between February 21 and February 24, as all J10 entry and exit slip roads are closed. 

The section will then be closed, in both directions, between J10 and J11, from 7-10 March and 21-24 March. 

Over the course of these closures, old bridges will be demolished and removed.

Closures will begin at 9pm on Friday and the roads will only reopen at 6am on Monday. 

The A3 northbound will face disruption between 11-14 April, alongside the Cobham roundabout. 

The closures come as National Highways saw many of their projects delayed by 2024’s “extreme weather”. 

Storm Bert, Darragh, and Eowyn all wreaked havoc across the UK from November 2024 to January last month.

They claimed seven lives between them as trees were ripped from their roots and many areas were devastated by flooding.

Senior project manager Johnathan Wade said:  “Periods of extreme weather in 2024 delayed some elements of our work but since then we’ve worked hard to recoup that time and still complete the on-road elements on schedule.”

The £316 million project to make access from the A3 onto the M25 smoother and less congested, was supposed to be a three year project.

It was scheduled to finish in the summer of this year – but has now been delayed until spring 2026.

Mr Wade added: “This is the final block of closures on the M25 as this scheme nears completion.

“We were grateful to drivers who listened to our advice during the three weekend closures last year and I’d again urge them to only use the motorway if their journey is absolutely necessary.

“Unfortunately, it’s simply not possible to carry out this scale of infrastructure improvement, which will benefit millions of people in the long term, without there being some degree of short-term disruption.

“We have spent months planning these closures, but they will still cause significant congestion and delays, so we are asking road users to allow extra time and use alternative routes where possible. Please follow our official diversion routes and not information from satnavs.”

The work on junction 10 has so far seen the installation of structures for pedestrians, horse-riders and cyclists. 

They have also installed a safe corridor for wildlife. 

The Cockcrow Green Bridge is a UK first, as it provides a 100ft corridor of lowland heath-land.

That particular habitat is beloved by some of the most mysterious UK wildlife, including birds and reptiles.

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, added: “Motorists who’ve grown used to the queues and closures associated with this scheme must now brace themselves for another summer, autumn and winter of discontent as the completion of work slips into 2026.

“The fact that drivers are being promised no more closures after March this year will bring some glimmer of sunshine.

“In return they’ll be hoping fair weather sees the scheme finished to its revised schedule, if not sooner.”

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Work was scheduled to finish in the summer of this year – but has now been delayed until spring 2026[/caption]

PETR CECH’s daughter is following in her father’s footsteps after she made her national team debut.

The Chelsea legend played in England for a decade and a half while also playing in goal for the Czech Republic for 14 years.

Reuters

Petr Cech’s daughter is following in his footsteps[/caption]

But the 42-year-old’s daughter, Adela Cechova, has now taken the next steps in following her father’s career.

On Tuesday the 17-year-old made her debut for Czechia’s Under-17 national team.

She starred off the bench in a 3-0 defeat to Mexico in the MIMA Cup being held in Spain.

The tournament will also see Cechova taking on England and Scotland before the end of the current international break.

However, Cechova is a defender rather than a goalkeeper like her father.

Her coach, Daniel Smejkal, says of her: “She’s a promising defender.

“Now we are taking her with us to Spain to train so that we can get to know her better.”

Cechova wears the number 21 on her back.

She has also kept her club football routes close to home, playing for Chelsea’s local rivals Fulham.

Tonight Cechova will have the chance to help her nation get a win on the board when they face England, before another opportunity presents itself against Scotland on Saturday.

Cech actually missed the birth of his daughter on January 23, 2008, because he was with the Chelsea team for a League Cup semi-final tie against Everton.

Chelsea would win the tie 2-1, although Cech did not play in the game – not even being named on the bench – with Hilario deputising in goal as picked by Avram Grant.

On missing her birth, Cech told People Magazine: “It was the best day of my life and at the same time the saddest.

“I was happy to be a father and proud of my wife, but sad to have missed the birth.

“My daughter decided she would come in the middle of the night without me being able to do anything, so I had to wait glued to the phone.”

Cech, who now plays ice hockey, has two children with his wife Martina.

They have a boy, named Damian, who is following more directly in his father’s footsteps, being a goalkeeper with the Under-15s at Fulham.

According to Czech outlet iDNES.cz, Cech does not want either of his children to play for Chelsea.

The publication explains: “She will always be ‘Cech’s daughter’, but I don’t think he will push her up.

“Quite the opposite, because he doesn’t want any of his children to play for a Chelsea team where he is a legend.

“Playing with the national team is a new football and life experience for her.”

Both of Cech’s children are kept away from the media spotlight in general and are said to be reluctant to give interviews.

CHILDREN could be three times as likely to develop ADHD if their mums take paracetamol during pregnancy, research suggests.

The study is one of several pieces of research that have looked into possible links between the common painkiller and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – a condition causing trouble with concentration, restlessness and impulsive behaviour.

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Taking paracetamol during pregnancy could make your child more likely to develop ADHD[/caption]

Previous studies have yielded conflicting findings.

A 2019 study involving more than 4,700 children and their mums suggested that paracetamol use in pregnancy could up the risk of children developing ADHD by 20 per cent.

But a more recent study conducted by the Karolinska Institute seemed to disprove this link.

The large scale analysis of nearly 2.5 million kids – published last year – found “no association” between pain-relieving drug and ADHD, autism or intellectual disabilities.

Study author Prof Renee Gardner, from the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet, advised parents to “always listen to your doctor’s assessment of whether or not the medication is safe in each individual case”.

Now, researchers at University of Washington in Seattle claim to have found a link after all.

Their study had a smaller participant pool that previous research – 307 Black women living in Tennessee.

But lead author Dr Brennan Baker claims it’s more accurate, as researchers looked for markers of paracetamol in blood samples collected from women during their second trimester.

He pointed out that older studies had relied on participants self-reporting their medication use, saying that many people might not remember if they’d popped a paracetamol while pregnant.

He told New Scientist: “A lot of people take [paracetamol] without knowing it.

“It could be the active ingredient in some cold medication you’re using, and you don’t necessarily know.”

The mums in Dr Baker’s study had an average age of 25 and most didn’t drink or smoke during their pregnancies.

None of them were taking medications for chronic conditions or had known pregnancy complications.

Researchers then followed up with participants when their children were between 8 and 10 years old, giving them a neurodevelopmental assessment.

Children whose mums took paracetamol when they were pregnant were 3.15 times more likely to develop ADHD, compared to kids whose mums did not.

This was the case even when researchers took into account mums’ ages, body mass index (BMI) and mental health conditions in other family members.

“Adjusting for potential confounders, detection of [paracetamol] in maternal second trimester plasma was associated with higher odds of ADHD diagnosis, compared with no exposure,” researchers wrote in their study published to Nature Mental Health.

This suggests that using paracetamol during pregnancy may raise children’s risk of developing ADHD.

But the study didn’t take into account how often the mums took paracetamol.

And researchers noted that their “measurement may only reflect use within a few days before the blood draw, and could disproportionately capture frequent paracetamol users over sporadic users”.

That’s because they measured blood markers of paracetamol at just one moment in time for each mum and these markers stick around in the blood for about three days.

Viktor Ahlqvist at the Karolinska Institute, also pointed out:“They haven’t been able to account for things like the mother’s reason for taking [paracetamol], such as headaches or fevers or pains or infections, which we know are risk factors for adverse child development.”

So, it’s possible that whatever led someone to take paracetamol in the first place is the actual risk factor for ADHD, rather than the drug.

But an analysis of tissue samples from 174 of the participants’ placentas showed that those using paracetamol underwent metabolic and immune system changes.

Dr Baker said: “There is a lot of prior work showing that elevated immune activation during pregnancy is linked with adverse neurodevelopment.”

He suggested that health agencies need to keep reviewing research around pain medication use during pregnancy and updating their guidance.

People who are unsure about whether they should take paracetamol while pregnant should speak to their doctor, he added.

NHS guidance states: “Paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you’re pregnant.

“It’s commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby.”

It also adds: “Before taking any medicine when you’re pregnant, including painkillers, check with your pharmacist, midwife or GP that it’s suitable.”

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) painkillers such as ibuprofen are not suitable for use in the third trimester.

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