Audrey Werro has beaten Keely Hodgkinson to win the 800m gold medal at the European Athletics Championships. This result marks a significant turning point, as the 22-year-old Swiss athlete has ended the Briton’s European reign and ushered in a fresh wave of world-class rivals set to define the next chapter of Hodgkinson’s story.
Keely Hodgkinson has been here before, and it eventually culminated in her crowning moment. After taking silver at three consecutive global championships amid captivating battles with American Athing Mu and Kenya’s Mary Moraa, Hodgkinson finally took the top step of a podium at the Paris Olympics. Now, she must recalibrate as new challengers emerge.
Friday’s gripping final in Birmingham offered a first taste of what fans hope will be many titanic battles with Werro and Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol. These rivalries are expected to dominate the lead-up to next season’s World Championships in Beijing and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The fierce competition does not stop there, with world 800m champion Lilian Odira and Hodgkinson’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell among those who could also prove key players in those global showdowns.
Reflecting on the shifting landscape, the 24-year-old Hodgkinson remains optimistic about the sport’s health. “There have been so many rivalries over the last couple of years. I have only been in this game for five years, hopefully I’ve got another 10 in me,” she said. “There will always be competitors coming along and you don’t know when someone is going to have a breakthrough. It’s not just my event that has rivalries, every single event does and it’s creating a great generation of track and field athletes.”
By her own record-breaking expectations, Hodgkinson’s outdoor season has not lived up to the excellent indoor campaign which fuelled excitement that she could break the sport’s longest-standing mark. After overcoming two hamstring tears to make the world podium in Tokyo last September, the six-time global medallist announced her return to full health this year by breaking the 24-year indoor world 800m record and winning a first world title.
However, having set her sights on the outdoor record, which has stood since 1983, Hodgkinson instead had to overcome several setbacks en route to her latest podium. While unexpected, her defeat by Werro at the Stockholm Diamond League in June was far from a disaster. There, Hodgkinson improved her British record off the back of a training block focused on developing her 400m speed, before beginning her 800m-specific work leading into the summer’s main targets.
In that race, she was beaten only by the fastest time recorded in 43 years. Recovering impressively both physically and mentally from that shock, Werro showed great maturity to hold off Hodgkinson in the tense closing stages of the European final, while breaking a championship record that had stood since 1982. “I hope to be faster and faster next year,” Werro said. “I shouldn’t be shy and let other athletes go past me, so I decided to do a celebration with that when I crossed the line.”
In claiming her first senior international title, Werro has proven she is ready to rival the Briton for the sport’s biggest prizes for years to come. “Audrey Werro is still young and that was a huge amount of pressure, even without the fall and the bruising,” former marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe said TV.
Despite her disappointment, this was Hodgkinson’s 12th senior international medal. She continues to progress her times, lowering her personal best in all but her injury-devastated 2025 season across the past four years. Earlier this season, a muscle “twinge” forced her tearful withdrawal from the 400m final at the British Championships, and she later competed with her knees taped, highlighting the physical toll of her high-intensity schedule.
It meant a return to winning ways became the priority at the London Diamond League, the meeting she previously circled for a potential record attempt. Holding off world-champion hurdler Broeders-Bol, who has taken quickly to the 800m since switching events this season, Hodgkinson took a hard-fought victory.
Forgoing the Commonwealth Games to prioritise her European title defence, Hodgkinson was further encouraged by her progress on a Portugal training camp. Speaking on the eve of the championships, she welcomed the strong competition and said achieving gold on British soil would mean as much as her previous major titles.
While that did not materialise on Friday, the fresh challenge posed by Werro in particular will only intensify her determination to reassert her dominance. “Obviously I would have rather walked away with the gold, but I don’t think I have done anything wrong,” said Hodgkinson. “I am proud of my consistency to stay competitive and continue to fight and add more medals to my collection.”
Holding off world-champion hurdler Broeders-Bol, who has taken quickly to the 800m since switching events this season, Hodgkinson took victory in front of 60,000 home fans to rebuild some confidence following what she co
But she was as stunned as anyone when the European under-23 champion surged past her in Stockholm to reduce her personal best by almost two seconds.
Werro would go faster still, improving to one minute 53.80 seconds in Paris.
Holding off world-champion hurdler Broeders-Bol, who has taken quickly to the 800m since switching events this season, Hodgkinson took victory in front of 60,000 home fans to rebuild some confidence following what she conceded had been “a tough couple of weeks”.
“It was a great race to be part of, a great race for the crowd to watch.
“I’m really proud of the battle I gave.
I look forward to the next match-up.”
Those two runs, just three weeks apart, are the only two sub-1:54 performances since Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova set her record time of 1:53.28.
However, her best time is now more than half a second faster than Hodgkinson’s 1:54.33, while Broeders-Bol clocked 1:55.54 in taking bronze in Birmingham.
“I knew I could be European champion one day.
“When I was a child, my dad used to tell me I have to be a lion.
Going forward, she will be aware that may soon be required just to win the titles she craves.
Comments