Audrey Werro holds off Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson to win European 800m gold

When Audrey Werro was a child, she was so painfully shy that her father told her she had to become a lion every time she raced. In a European women’s 800m final for the ages, she followed that advice to the letter.

As the 22-year-old Swiss superstar came around the final bend, she could feel Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson on her shoulder, waiting to strike. The Dutch flyer Femke Broeders-Bol was also close enough to dream too. But Werro was ready to flash her teeth.

It didn’t matter that she had been spiked by Broeders-Bol after 200m. Or that she had led the pack into the face of a swirling wind for most of the race. She didn’t succumb. She roared.

The noise from the full house of 23,000 home fans was deafening as Hodgkinson tried to pass her on the outside. But the gap never closed. Instead Werro took gold in 1min 54.81sec – a time that broke a championship record that had stood since 1982.

It left Hodgkinson looking mightily disappointed after running 1:55.01 to take silver, with Broeders-Bol claiming bronze. But the Olympic champion was also gracious in defeat after.

“It doesn’t sting because I was beaten by a great athlete,” said Hodgkinson. “I think I put together a pretty good race. I don’t think I did anything wrong. The thing about the 800m is you have a million different ways of going in your head but I covered every move well. I just didn’t have enough.”

There was a moment, though, that she did believe. “In that last 50, I thought I had it,” she said. “But she’s a strong athlete.” As for Werro, her smile told the story given that on Thursday lunchtime it appeared she was out of these Championships after being tripped in the semi-finals. “I am really happy with this medal after a crazy 24 hours,” she said. “When I was a child, my dad used to tell me I had to be a lion. So I decided to do a celebration with that when I crossed the line.”

Before the final, Hodgkinson had asked the weather gods for no wind to help her bid for a third successive European title. But they had other ideas. It was whippy and blustery throughout.

But that didn’t deter Werro, who went to the front early. And as the bell sounded with the clock showing 56.45, the big three began to stretch away. “Audrey wanted to take it on and, with that wind, I was happy to let her,” said Hodgkinson. “We’re all great athletes and I knew it was going to be close.”

It was. And that allowed Hodgkinson to be philosophical after. “We’re all going to win some, lose some,” she said. “Shit happens. Audrey fell over yesterday. She’d made it back. I know what that took out of me a few weeks ago. So yeah, incredible for her. And yeah, life goes on. I’ll go back and train and just hope I get it next time.”

That may prove easier said than done given that Werro has run the third, fourth and ninth fastest times in history since June. But only a fool would write the British runner off.

There was a second silver medal on the night for Britain in the form of Zharnel Hughes in the men’s 200m. Hughes ran a creditable 20.16, especially given that he has been battling a groin injury. However, he had no answer to the speed of Germany’s Owen Ansah, who powered to victory in 19.95. There was a rare dead heat for bronze between Italy’s Eseosa Fostine Desalu and Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler, who both ran 20.26.

However, Ansah’s gold medal was instantly controversial given that last week Germany’s National Anti-Doping Agency had recommended that he should receive a four-year suspension over a possible anti-doping violation.

The German authorities claim that is because Ansah missed a test in July. Ansah disputes this. But Hughes will be upgraded to gold if Ansah is banned.

Earlier in the night, some of Europe’s biggest stars also shone brightly. First Italy’s Nadia Battocletti added the European 10,000m title to her 5,000m crown with a devastating 28-second burst over the last 200m. Then Norway’s Karsten Warholm ran a championship record time of 46.63 to storm to gold in the men’s 400m hurdles.

But perhaps the sweetest moment of the night came when another Italian star, the high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, asked the crowd to sing happy birthday to his one-year-old daughter, Camilla, after he leaped 2.32m to win gold. They duly obliged too.

But there was little joy for Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the women’s heptathlon. The 33-year-old felt the effects of a calf niggle as she finished day one in 16th place with just 3,644 points – a long way behind the leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland on 3,968.