On June 7th, Audrey Werro beat Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m at the Stockholm Diamond League. Werro not only came in first, but she achieved the third-fastest time in history.
The Swiss-born athlete crossed the line in 1 minute and 53.98 seconds. Hodgkinson came in second with her second personal best, 1 minute and 54.33 seconds. Werro wasn’t expecting to beat Keely, let alone achieve the record.
Speaking to Olympics.com in an interview, she said, “This is crazy. I need time to process this. This is becoming more real and to be honest it is a bit scary. I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. It was a big day for me because it was my first win in the Diamond League with Keely. It has been a goal of mine just to finish in front of her because I know she’s really fast.”
Werro also stated that it wasn’t her plan to overtake Hodgkinson, “Instead, I was thinking of staying in the third position and letting her go in front,” she added. “But I went so fast at the beginning that I was just behind her, so I said to myself, ‘I’m going to step forward bravely, change the processes and see what happens’.”
Audrey became the first athlete since 1983 to break the 1:54 record, plus, her time also became a Diamond League record, a meeting record, and a Swiss record.
Werro began athletics at the age of 9, when she joined club Athlétique Belfaux, and was coached by Christiane Berset Nuoffer. She also has several accolades to her name:
- 2026 World Indoor Championships – 800 meter Silver Medal
- 2025 European U23 Championship – Gold Medal
- 2022 World Under-20 Championships – Silver Medal
- 2021 European U20 Championships – Gold Medal
