Audrey Werro is fast becoming an unsolvable riddle for the leading lady of British sport. For the second time in 10 weeks, this Swiss phenomenon left Keely Hodgkinson staring at her heels in a race that lived up to its billing as the best of the European Championships.
To the most talented Audrey since Hepburn went the 800m gold medal. To Hodgkinson, there was presumably no silver lining to be found in finishing a close second on home soil.
If there is to be any consolation, it is that Werro, aged 22, clocked a championship record of 1:54.81 on a chilly, breezy evening in Birmingham to beat her. But warmer thoughts will be harder to find for Hodgkinson.
Instead, the Olympic champion must process the dawning of a serious rivalry and one that is not currently swinging in her favour. This one was settled by the margin of 0.2sec.
In the long run, Hodgkinson might view such moments as the competitive nectar needed for the breaching of new frontiers, of course, but the sting in the present will be real. Not many athletes have the finishing speed to match Hodgkinson, but in their past two races Werro has kicked away from her with the force of a donkey.
The decisive move here came after 500 metres, when Werro put the hammer down.
Hodgkinson, who had been near enough level at the bell after a 56sec opening lap, went with her, and they both separated from Femke Broeders-Bol in third, but the Brit had no answer. She never got her nose in front, and those moments of futility can leave lasting doubts in an athlete.
The 24-year-old, who was chasing a third straight European title, was evidently in little mood to indulge the celebrations of on-track interviewer Iwan Thomas. He assumed she would be thrilled with silver, but Hodgkinson responded: ‘I think I would be happier with a gold.’
Kely Hodgkinson was forced to settle for second in the women’s 800m final on Friday
Hodgkinson jokingly took off her silver medal at the European Championships in Birmingham
She later added: ‘I think with that level of competition, any medal is a really good achievement and another one to add to my collection so I can never be disappointed with that. But I’m defending champion so I wanted to do that.
‘I knew it was going to come down to the wire but I really thought I was going to win today. But it wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t do anything wrong, it was just one of those things.
‘Congrats to Audrey. I am sure we will have more battles.’
That much seems certain. And for two women striving to break the oldest world record in track athletics, that will be a good thing.
But Werro has the edge. Having been beaten twice by Hodgkinson during the indoor portion of the season, she gained spectacular revenge in Stockholm in June when the Brit set a personal best of 1:54.33. Not only was that a win against a full-form Hodgkinson, Werro’s time of 1:53.98 was the third quickest in history. A month later, Werro ran quicker again with a 1:53.80 – if anyone is to better the dubious mark of 1:53.28 set by the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova in the Eighties, Werro might have the edge.
To think, Werro was only cleared to race in this final on appeal after being tripped in her semi-final. It was a marginal call but also the correct one, so there should be no controversy around what it led to.
For Hodgkinson, the bigger picture will make for strange viewing. After the injury troubles of 2025, her times in 2026 have moved sharply on an upward trajectory, including the indoor world record in February, so she rightly resents any suggestion of ‘failure’ at losing a race or two. She was borderline tetchy in using that label prior to these Championships.
But in athletics, the clock is a secondary adversary to the field and Werro’s emergence is a huge fly in the ointment. For the rest of us watching, we can presumably take great pleasure in where it leads, because athletics needs rivalries. In these two gifted runners, it has one that has the potential to go on for years.
