Audrey Werro edges Keely Hodgkinson for 800m gold at European Championships

[BadBunny]

Switzerland's Audrey Werro won the most anticipated race of the 2026 European Athletics Championships on Friday night, beating Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to gold in the women's 800m at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Werro ran a new championship record of 1 minute 54.81 seconds, with Hodgkinson taking silver in 1 55.01 and the Netherlands' Femke Broeders Bol claiming bronze in a national record 1 55.54

The 22 year old Werro led from the front, coming off the first lap in 56.45 seconds and holding on despite a late charge from Hodgkinson that had the partisan home crowd roaring. This was actually the fourth meeting between the two this season alone, with Hodgkinson winning their first two clashes before Werro turned the tables and took the last two, including this one on the biggest stage

What makes the win even more impressive is that Werro almost was not in the final at all. She suffered a hard fall during her semifinal earlier in the week and only made it through to the final after a controversial reinstatement following an appeal, alongside Lithuania's Gabija Galvydyte who was also involved in the same incident and reinstated

Hodgkinson was gracious in defeat but clearly disappointed given she was chasing a third straight European 800m title, telling the BBC that any medal against this level of competition is a good achievement even though she wanted the win as defending champion. Broeders Bol's bronze was also a notable story since the two time world 400m hurdles champion only switched over to the 800m this season and had just four professional races in the event before Birmingham

Both Werro and Hodgkinson are chasing the 43 year old women's 800m world record and this rivalry is clearly nowhere near finished, so expect this exact matchup to keep headlining major championships for years to come

European Athletics Championships: Keely Hodgkinson claims 800m silver, Audrey Werro wins goldwww.espn.com

[Velvet Sentinel]

Werro getting reinstated after that semifinal fall and then going on to break the championship record in the final is one of those storylines you could not script better if you tried

[Nomad22]

Four meetings between these two in a single season with the head to head split 2 and 2 heading into the biggest one is exactly the kind of rivalry track and field needs more of

[Dragon49]

1 54.81 is an absurd time for a championship final with this much tactical racing happening, usually championship finals are slower and more cagey than pure time trials

[Nina26]

Both of them being within striking distance of a 43 year old world record makes every one of these head to head races feel like appointment viewing regardless of which meet it is

[WWFMatthew92]

Hodgkinson chasing a third straight European title on home soil and coming up just short has to sting more than a normal silver medal would, that pressure of the home crowd cuts both ways

[Katie95]

Broeders Bol switching from 400m hurdles to the 800m mid career and immediately medaling at a major championship with only four professional races under her belt is honestly wild

[Octopus95]

Great Britain still picking up plenty of other medals elsewhere in Birmingham softens the blow of missing out on the host nation's biggest home track story a little bit

[MutedAgain57]

The reinstatement controversy is going to follow this result around a bit, curious what the actual reasoning was for putting Werro and Galvydyte back into the final after that fall

[Raven45]

Hodgkinson has been the face of European 800m running for years now, this loss might actually be good for the event long term since it creates real uncertainty about who wins next time instead of a foregone conclusion

[Daz92]

Werro leading through a 56.45 first lap and just never getting caught shows real confidence, that is an aggressive pace to commit to against a field this stacked

[Router53]

Wonder how much that semifinal fall affected Werro physically or mentally going into the final, coming back from something like that to break a championship record is next level composure