Athletics-Werro outpaces Hodgkinson to win inaugural Ultimate Championship 800m title

By Lori Ewing

BUDAPEST, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Audrey Werro capped a remarkable season by beating Britain’s Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to win the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship women’s 800 metres title on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Werro led from the gun and crossed the line in one minute 55.88 seconds to add another major victory to a breakthrough season that has transformed the event, with Britain’s Hodgkinson second in 1:56.26 and Dutchwoman Femke Broeders-Bol fading to third after sitting on Werro’s right shoulder for 700 metres.

Werro pocketed $150,000 for the victory, part of the event’s $10 million prize pot that is the richest in the sport.

The women’s 800m had been one of the most anticipated events of the championship, bringing together the three athletes who have driven the distance to unprecedented levels this season.

Werro arrived in Budapest as the overwhelming favourite after a sensational campaign in which she posted 1:53.70, the third-fastest time in women’s 800 metres and the quickest recorded in 43 years.

The Swiss runner had repeatedly beaten Hodgkinson throughout the season, won the European title and emerged as the athlete most likely to challenge one of athletics’ most enduring records.

Saturday’s victory further strengthened that claim.

Hodgkinson, the Olympic champion and world indoor record holder, remained firmly in contention despite an outdoor season interrupted by injury, while Broeders-Bol’s remarkable first year over 800m after switching from the 400m hurdles had added another dimension to a rivalry that has captivated the sport.

Their season-long battle has unfolded against the backdrop of one of the sport’s most famous and controversial records.

The women’s 800m world record of 1:53.28, set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in Munich in July 1983, remains the oldest mark on the athletics books. For more than four decades it has survived advances in training methods, sports science and technology, leading many to regard it as one of track and field’s most formidable barriers.

The record has also been cloaked in controversy. Although Kratochvilova has consistently denied using performance-enhancing drugs, her achievement came during an era when athletes from Eastern Bloc nations were linked to state-backed doping programmes and anti-doping controls were far less rigorous than today.

This season has produced the strongest challenge to the record in a generation. With Werro, Hodgkinson and Broeders-Bol all posting times that would have dominated almost any previous era, the women’s 800m has enjoyed a renaissance.

And after another victory over her leading rivals, Werro capped her season as the woman carrying the event’s greatest expectations — leaving fans to wonder whether Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old record can survive another season.

(Reporting by Lori Ewing)

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