On a wild summer’s night in Stockholm, a woman ran the quickest 800m since the darkest days of the cold war. But, staggeringly, her name was not Keely Hodgkinson.
Britain’s 800m Olympic champion had promised she was in personal-best shape, and duly proved as good as her word. But she had no answer to the young Swiss star Audrey Werro, who swooped like lightning across a cloudless sky before crossing the line in 1min 53.98sec.
It was the third fastest time in history. Now only two women stand above Werro in the pantheon: the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova, whose world record of 1:53.28, set in 1983, is the oldest in track and field; and the late Soviet star Nadezhda Olizarenko, who ran 1:53.43 in 1980.
Hodgkinson, whose British record time of 1:54.33 puts her sixth on the all-time list, was gracious in defeat. And, encouraging to British ears, she insisted that the sting of defeat would help her take down Kratochvilova’s record this summer.
“Honestly, I’m not that disappointed,” Hodgkinson said. “I’ve mentioned the world record, and, to get down to the times that we’re talking about, you can’t do it by yourself. So I think this will actually be a pivotal moment.”
One press box wag reckoned that “Shockholm” would be an apt tabloid headline for what we had witnessed, especially given that Werro had run a personal best by nearly two seconds. Yet there were mitigating factors for Hodgkinson’s loss.
The 24-year-old has been working on her 400m speed and 1500m stamina, rather than specific 800m work. That will now change as she aims to break the world record in the London Diamond League in July.
“I really work well with a little bit of anger and motivation so I can’t complain too much,” she said. “Beforehand I was a bit apprehensive, because I hadn’t done a specific 800m block, but I knew I was at least in 1:54-low shape.
“But she’s getting the best out of me and I still believe in myself – the world record is still my goal in London next month, I still believe I can do it.”
It ended up being a thriller of a race, with the pacemakers taking them through halfway in a rapid 55.54 and Hodgkinson making her move with 300m remaining.
The Briton was adopting a similar playbook to the one she had used to defeat Werro in the World Indoor Championships in March, but this time the Swiss clung on before striking for home with 50m remaining.
“I am still in shock,” the 22-year-old said. “It’s really crazy. Now I believe the world record can fall this year.”
Werro’s run was the performance of the day, but the astonishing Diamond League debut of the 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus in the men’s 800m was a close second. Indoors in March, the American became the youngest track and field world champion in history.
Now, for an encore, he beat a strong field, including Marco Arop, the 2023 world champion and Paris silver medallist, with a confident display. “I was definitely pretty nervous with the names in that field,” said Lutkenhaus, whose time of 1:42.70 was the fastest in the world this year. “But I was able to have the perfect day today.”
Arop, who was second in 1:43.11, was duly impressed. “He is going to be a special talent,” he predicted.
Britain’s Ben Pattison was fourth in 1:43.70 but the world 1500m silver medallist Jake Wightman was disappointed after finishing seventh in 1:44.39.
There was no contest when it came to finding the happiest Briton in Stockholm. The world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt has insisted for a year that she was in shape to break the 11-second barrier for 100m. Having run 10.97 to do it in finishing second to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, she could not contain her joy.
“Sub-11 has been work in progress for many years so I am super excited that it has finally happened,” she said. “Every single day in training I run sub-11 but I needed the conditions to be right in a race – and today they were perfect.”
Most of the packed crowd were here to see Mondo Duplantis break his 16th pole vault world record. But it was not to be. The Swedish superstar failed at his first attempt at 5.60m, and ended up clearing only 5.80m – more than 50cm short of his best – as he was beaten by Australia’s Kurtis Marschall. “You mean the world to me, your support is amazing,” said Duplantis, who struggled with the windy conditions and a stye in an eye.
But the lingering memory of this night was of Hodgkinson’s voice bristling with intent as she promised brighter days ahead. “It doesn’t always go your way but it’s how you bounce back,” she promised. Expect London, and the rematch with Werro, to be box office.
