Werro secures 800m title
Audrey Werro of Switzerland secured the gold medal in the women’s 800m final, preventing Keely Hodgkinson from achieving a third consecutive European title. The race, held in Birmingham, saw Werro finish with a championship record of one minute 54.81 seconds, ahead of Hodgkinson’s 1:55.01. This marks Werro’s first senior international title.
The event was highly anticipated, drawing a sellout crowd of 23,000 to Alexander Stadium. The competition was largely a three-way contest involving Hodgkinson, the 22-year-old Werro, and Dutch athlete Femke Broeders-Bol.
Hodgkinson, an Olympic champion, had aimed to reassert her dominance in the 800m. Despite strong home support, she was unable to overtake Werro in the final stages of the race. Werro’s victory is particularly notable as she had suffered a fall in her semi-final on Thursday but was later reinstated into the final.
The Swiss athlete has shown significant progress this season, becoming the fastest athlete in the event since the world record was established 43 years ago. She also produced the first sub-1:54 clocking since 1983 at the Stockholm Diamond League this summer, where she surged past Hodgkinson.
Hodgkinson’s silver and team performance
For Keely Hodgkinson, the silver medal represents her 12th senior international medal. The 24-year-old first earned an international medal as a teenager at the European Indoor Championships five years ago. Despite her desire for gold, she described her feelings as “mixed emotions,” acknowledging that any medal at this level of competition is a significant achievement.
Hodgkinson had previously won her first world title during the indoor season, beating Werro twice. She also secured her first major outdoor title at the European Championships in 2022 and retained it in Rome two years ago. Her silver medal in Birmingham came approximately 20 minutes after Zharnel Hughes earned a silver medal in the men’s 200m.
The British team has accumulated 10 medals over five days of competition. However, they have ceded the top position in the medal table to Italy, who now hold five golds compared to the host nation’s four.
Femke Broeders-Bol, who finished third in the 800m with a time of 1:55.54, is also expected to continue improving. The two-time world 400m hurdles champion has made rapid progress since switching events this season, with World Championship gold on offer next year.
Other notable performances
In the men’s 200m final, Zharnel Hughes secured a silver medal. Hughes, who was the fastest European this year and a world 100m bronze medallist in 2023, was leading off the bend but was overtaken by Germany’s Owen Ansah. Ansah claimed victory in 19.95 seconds, marking his first time under 20 seconds. Hughes, a British record-holder, finished in 20.16 seconds. Desalu and Mumenthaler shared the bronze medal in this event.
The heptathlon saw Katarina Johnson-Thompson finish day one in 17th position overall. She expressed her happiness to be competing after a challenging season marked by injuries. Earlier in the day, she cleared 1.83m in the high jump, moving her up to tenth in the heptathlon rankings. This was only her second appearance since winning bronze at the World Championships last September.
In other events, Nadia Battocletti, the defending champion in the 10,000m, also secured the 5000m gold. Warholm, in the 400m hurdles, won his fourth European title in a row, breaking his own championship record. Gianmarco Tamberi won gold in the high jump, clearing 2.32m.
The evening concluded with six gold medals awarded across various disciplines.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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