Audrey Werro beats Keely Hodgkinson to win European 800m gold

Audrey Werro beat Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson to win the women’s 800 metres at the European Athletics Championships at Alexander Stadium on August 14, 2026, setting a championship record of 1:54.81. Femke Broeders-Bol completed the podium in 1:55.54 while Hodgkinson took silver in 1:55.01.

Keely Hodgkinson had been bidding for a European Championship hat-trick after winning gold in 2022 and 2024, and pre-race debate in the press box produced advocates for multiple possible 1-2-3 combinations. Bookmakers had installed Werro as favourite after she ran the third, fourth and ninth fastest times in history since June, though there were questions about a cut on her knee sustained in a heavy fall in the semi-finals.

Werro led from the front and held off Hodgkinson to claim victory in 1:54.81; Hodgkinson finished in 1:55.01 and Broeders-Bol was third in 1:55.54. Werro finished roughly three metres clear of the British runner.

“I am really happy with this medal after a crazy 24 hours,” said Werro. “It was a great race,” said Hodgkinson. “I am sure there will be many more battles ahead. But I think I would have been happier with gold.”

Hodgkinson entered the final with a string of high-profile credentials: she is the Paris Olympic champion, she had broken the world indoor record in the winter and then won the world indoor title in March. Those achievements were followed by a comprehensive defeat to Werro in Stockholm in June.

Femke Broeders-Bol reached her first 800m championship final despite being better known as a 400m hurdler; she is a double world 400m hurdles champion and her 49.17sec personal best for 400m is an indoor world record. Sebastian Coe had suggested a few years ago that she was a natural 800m runner; she initially recoiled and avoided Coe for years but decided to try the distance only after winning the world 400m hurdles title again last year.

Other finals on the night produced notable results. Karsten Warholm won the men’s 400m hurdles in a championship-record 46.63sec for his fourth European title, with Germany’s Emil Agyekum more than a second back in silver and Turkey’s Ismail Nezir third. Nadia Battocletti took the women’s 10,000m in 31:41.20, four seconds ahead of Maureen Koster, with Jana Van Lent third; Britain’s Megan Keith, who led early, faded to finish eighth.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson struggled on day one of the heptathlon, affected by a calf niggle that had caused her to miss the Commonwealth Games, and sat 16th after the opening events. The 33-year-old, who won world championship bronze last year, ran 14.00 in the 100m hurdles (her slowest time in a major championship), cleared 1.83m in the high jump, put 12.79m in the shot and ran 24.46 in the 200m for a total of 3644 points; Adrianna Sulek-Schubert led on 3968 with Sofie Dokter and Kate O’Connor close behind.

In the men’s 200m, Owen Ansah won in 19.95sec with Britain’s Zharnel Hughes second in 20.16sec and a rare dead heat for bronze between Italy’s Eseosa Fostine Desalu and Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler, who both ran 20.26. Ansah’s gold provoked immediate controversy after Germany’s National Anti-Doping Agency last week recommended a four-year suspension over a possible anti-doping violation; German authorities say the recommendation stems from a missed test in July, a claim Ansah disputes, and the case continues.