Hodgkinson stunned by Werro despite personal best

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Werro causes shock in Stockholm as she beats Hodgkinson

ByBen CollinsBBC Sport journalist

Published7 June 2026, 18:28 BST

Updated 3 minutes ago

Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson ran a personal best at the Diamond League in Stockholm but it was not enough to beat Audrey Werro.

The Swiss athlete stunned Hodgkinson by winning in a time of one minute and 53.98 seconds - the third fastest women's 800m time ever and fastest in the world this year.

Hodgkinson was narrowly behind in a British record of 1:54:33 while American Roisin Willis was third in 1:57:56.

There was also a shock for Armand Duplantis as the Swedish pole vault star suffered this first defeat in 40 events.

Hodgkinson has targeted the world record this year and the 24-year-old Briton smashed the world indoor record in February.

And although she ran her fastest 800m time since July 2024 - 1:54.61 at the Diamond League meeting in London - Werro took more than a second off her previous best (1:56.64).

The 22-year-old set the pace during a first lap of 55.54 seconds and although Hodgkinson hit the front with 300m remaining, Werro cruised past her just after they turned onto the home straight.

"It was a quick one, a really interesting race," said Hodgkinson. "When Audrey went off I was like 'just chill', but massive respect to her. That was a great race and it will motivate me more in training to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Hodgkinson finished seventh in a rare outing over 400m on Thursday and plans to compete over 800m in Eugene before the Diamond League meeting in London on 18 July.

"I was a little bit apprehensive coming in, not quite knowing exactly where I was with the 800m, because we have been doing some 400 training and are going to put together the 800m now," she added.

"But it makes me excited because I can build on this great start. It's still very early. It's good to have a run in your legs because you can learn what you can do better but overall I am quite happy with that race because I made the right decisions, but Audrey was just better on the day."