Werro beats Hodgkinson and Broeders-Bol in 1:55.88 to finish an unbeaten outdoor season
The Swiss led from the gun in Budapest and held the same 1-2-3 as the European final; Kazimierska won the 1500 m an hour later over Hunter Bell and Hiltz.
Photograph: Audrey Werro with her world indoor silver medal at Fribourg station, March 2026, by Martin Thurnherr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe three-way 800 m rivalry that defined the summer got its last round in Budapest on Saturday, and the result did not change. Audrey Werro went to the front, passed 400 m in 57.83 with Femke Broeders-Bol on her shoulder and Keely Hodgkinson a stride back, let the trio bunch with 200 m to go, then found a gear nobody else had. She won in 1:55.88. Hodgkinson, who had skipped the Brussels final, passed Broeders-Bol in the straight for second in 1:56.26; the Dutch convert from the 400 m hurdles was third in 1:56.74. Same three, same order as the European Championships.
Hodgkinson started the year as the best in the world: a 1:54.87 world indoor record, then the world indoor title in 1:55.30. Outdoors has belonged to Werro, who won from Rabat onwards and ran under 1:54 in Stockholm, Paris and Zurich. Her best of 1:53.70 is 0.42 off the world record, and she owns three of the five fastest times ever run.
The 1500 m followed. Agathe Guillemot led through 800 m in 2:11.31 and the bell in 3:00.08, Klaudia Kazimierska moved with just over 200 m left and Georgia Hunter Bell drew level with 100 m to go. The Pole held on, 3:57.55 to 3:57.72, a week after her surprise win in Brussels. Nikki Hiltz was third in 3:58.16 and Freweyni Hailu fourth.
Werro has not lost an outdoor 800 m this year. The record is the only thing left to beat.
Sources: World Athletics; World Athletics; Athletics Weekly.
