Audrey Werro's thrilling European 800m victory over Keely Hodgkinson sets up a lively track rivalry that should thrive for seasons to come, with the added goal of breaking an elusive world record.
Before Werro outgunned Hodgkinson for continental gold in Birmingham in a championship record of 1min 54.81sec on Friday, the pair had last met at the Stockholm Diamond League in June.
The Swiss athlete had then also outpaced Hodgkinson, timing 1:53.98 for the victory to become the first woman to dip under 1:54 since 1983.
That was the year that Jarmila Kratochvilova of then-Czechoslovakia ran the two-lap race in 1:53.28.
Audrey Werro 🇨🇭 wins 800m GOLD at the European Championships in a Championship Record of 1:54.81!🥇
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) August 14, 2026
🥈 Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 1:55.01
🥉 Femke Broeders-Bol 🇳🇱 1:55.54 (=NR) pic.twitter.com/DevW97tRTc
It remains the oldest world record in track and field, albeit one that is highly contested having come during a period when systemic doping of athletes was prevalent. Kratochvilova, however, never failed a doping test.
Werro is just 22 and Hodgkinson 24, meaning the pair – injuries and form notwithstanding – could realistically be looking at a decade of rivalry ahead of them.
Throw 26-year-old Femke Broeders-Bol, the twice world 400m hurdles champion who has transitioned to the 800m and remarkably won bronze in Birmingham, into the mix, and it makes for a heady concoction.
"We are both young, so we will have a great rivalry for years to come," said Olympic champion Hodgkinson of herself and Werro.
"We can keep challenging each other. And Femke is not much older and still learning the 800m, so it is going to be a competitive distance for years to come."
Hodkinson added: "There have been so many rivalries over the last couple of years. I have only been in this game for five years; hopefully I've got another 10 in me.
"There will always be competitors coming along and you don't know when someone is going to have a breakthrough."
FASTER AND FASTER
Werro, who has only been a fulltime professional athlete for one year, was in no doubt about what lay ahead for her.
"I hope to be faster and faster next year," she insisted.
Werro was clipped in her semifinal on Thursday and only made the final on a successful appeal, not ideal for championship racing.
"I'm glad I had a second chance and I just took it," she said.
"In the last 100 metres I was just thinking about all those hard training sessions I've done over the last few weeks.
"Out of the corner of my eye I could see something happening behind, so I knew I couldn't let anything go."
The world championships in Beijing are next year, followed by the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
But Werro said she was content to take a minute to just bask in continental glory.
"I'm just happy to have won my first senior European medal. I'm just going to enjoy this moment."
EMBRACE THE LACTIC
Hodgkinson acknowledged that it had been a "fantastic race".
"I gave it my all," she said. "Going into that last 100m I really thought I could catch her but sometimes you just don't have enough and that was the case.
"We have more Diamond League meetings to come this season and the Ultimate Champs so hope I can get back to winning ways."
In an astonishing run for bronze, Broeders-Bol equalled the Dutch national record of 1:55.54 set by Ellen van Langen in 1991.
"It was such a cool race and I really gave it my utmost to make sure I would get that medal," she said.
"To come away with a medal, racing against some of the best of the world, is amazing.
"It is really great to see the progress I'm making. I still feel I have a lot to learn for the 800m, I need to embrace the lactic a little more."
All eyes will now turn to the August 21 Diamond League meet in Lausanne where wavelight technology and highly efficient pacemakers will be utilised to maximise times.
On the fast track in Switzerland, Werro will bask in the limelight of home support and get her head down in pursuit of a 43-year-old record.
More opportunities come at meets in Silesia, Zurich and Brussels before the Ultimate Championships in Budapest in September.