Athletics-Switzerland's Werro beats Olympic champion Hodgkinson for European 800m title


Athletics - European Athletics Championships - Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, Britain - August 14, 2026 Gold medallist Switzerland's Audrey Werro crosses the finish line to win the women's 800m final ahead of silver medallist Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

BIRMINGHAM, England, Aug ⁠14 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Audrey Werro continued her remarkable ⁠rise by holding off Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson ‌to win the 800 metres crown at the European Athletics Championships less than 24 hours after a heavy fall in ​the semi-finals.

The 22-year-old, who shocked ⁠the sport earlier this ⁠season by clocking the fastest time in 43 ⁠years, pulled ‌away from Briton Hodgkinson over the final 150 metres to cross in one ⁠minute 54.81 seconds.

Crowd favourite Hodgkinson finished second ​in 1:55.01, ‌while Femke Broeders-Bol was third in 1:55.54.

Werro, whose ⁠career has ​skyrocketed over the past few months, showed both resilience and composure to recover from Thursday's semi-final, when ⁠she took a hard tumble ​to finish last, but was reinstated for the final after it was determined that France's Anais Bourgoin made ⁠contact with Werro's right foot before the fall.

Karsten Warholm of Norway raced to his fourth successive European title in the 400m hurdles, clocking 46.63 ​seconds to break his own ⁠championship record.

Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, who has struggled with injuries ​the past couple of seasons, ‌cleared 2.32 metres to win ​his fourth European high jump gold medal.

(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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