Audrey Werro won the women's 800m final at the European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 1min 54.81sec, holding off Britain's Keely Hodgkinson and the Netherlands' Femke Broeders-Bol in a race for the ages.
Werro's lion-hearted victory
The 22-year-old Swiss runner, who had been spiked after 200m and led into a swirling wind for most of the race, took gold ahead of Hodgkinson (1:55.01) and Broeders-Bol (1:55.54). The record had stood since 1982.
Werro's win came after a dramatic 24 hours: on Thursday lunchtime she appeared out of the 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."
Hodgkinson gracious in defeat
Hodgkinson, the Olympic champion, was disappointed but gracious. "It doesn't sting because I was beaten by a great athlete," she said. "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."
She added: "In that last 50, I thought I had it. But she's a strong athlete." Hodgkinson had asked for no wind before the final, but it was whippy and blustery throughout. "Audrey wanted to take it on and, with that wind, I was happy to let her," she said. "We're all great athletes and I knew it was going to be close."
Hughes takes 200m silver, Ansah's gold under scrutiny
Britain's Zharnel Hughes took silver in the men's 200m with 20.16, behind Germany's Owen Ansah (19.95), who was racing despite a recommendation from Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency for a four-year suspension over a possible anti-doping violation. Ansah disputes the claim, but Hughes would be upgraded to gold if a ban is imposed.
Elsewhere, Italy's Nadia Battocletti added the 10,000m title to her 5,000m crown, and Norway's Karsten Warholm ran a championship record 46.63 in the men's 400m hurdles. Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi won high jump gold with 2.32m and asked the crowd to sing happy birthday to his daughter. In the heptathlon, Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished day one in 16th with 3,644 points, behind leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland on 3,968.
