Arabic version: فيرو تهزم هودجكينسون وتحصد ذهبية أوروبا في 800 متر

According to BBC News, Switzerland’s Audrey Werro won the women’s 800m title at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, with Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson taking silver. Werro, 22, denied Olympic champion Hodgkinson a third consecutive European crown in front of a sellout crowd of 23,000 at Alexander Stadium.

Werro finished in a championship-record one minute 54.81 seconds to claim her first senior international title. Hodgkinson clocked 1:55.01 after trying to pass her rival on the final bend, while Dutch athlete Femke Broeders-Bol was third in 1:55.54. Hodgkinson’s silver was the British team’s 10th medal in five days at its home championships.

“Mixed emotions,” Hodgkinson told the BBC. “I think with that level of competition, any medal is a really good achievement and another one to add to my collection, so I can never be disappointed with that. But I’m defending champion, so I wanted to do that.” She said she thought she would win and added: “It wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t do anything wrong – it was just one of those things.”

Werro had suffered a fall in Thursday’s semi-final before being reinstated for the final. Replays showed France’s Anais Bourgoin’s left hand clipping Werro’s right foot. The incident contributed to a 10-athlete final, but Werro, Hodgkinson and Broeders-Bol emerged as the main contenders for gold.

Earlier, Zharnel Hughes won silver in the men’s 200m. The 2023 world 100m bronze medallist led coming off the bend but was passed by Germany’s Owen Ansah, who won in 19.95 seconds.