European champion Audrey Werro delivered a commanding performance at the Zurich Diamond League, coming within four-tenths of a second of the oldest outdoor world record in athletics. The 22-year-old Swiss runner clocked 1:53.70, falling just shy of the 1:53.28 mark set by Jarmila Kratochvilova 43 years ago. Despite the narrow miss, the time stands as the third-fastest in history and marks a new personal best for Werro.
Roared on by a capacity crowd of 25,000, Werro tracked the infield pacing lights throughout the final 100 meters. Reflecting on the race, she noted that the environment was far from calm, citing heavy movement on the track as she maneuvered past Dutch competitor Femke Bol. While she admitted the record was not meant to be on this occasion, she expressed pride in her ability to maintain sub-1:54 consistency, a sign of her growing maturity on the track.
Werro’s rise has been marked by ruthless consistency, with four of the top-10 all-time 800m times recorded this summer. Her form presents a significant challenge for Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, who withdrew from the Zurich meeting. Meanwhile, Femke Bol—the world 400m hurdles champion—continues to impress in her debut 800m season, setting a new Dutch national record of 1:54.71 to finish second. Georgia Hunter-Bell followed in third with a time of 1:55.03.
While Werro narrowly missed her target, two other world records fell during an extraordinary night of competition. Brazil’s Alison dos Santos stunned the field in the 400m hurdles, clocking 45.80 seconds to shatter Karsten Warholm’s 2021 record of 45.94. Warholm finished a distant second, unable to match the pace set by the 26-year-old Brazilian.
The momentum continued with American sprinter Masai Russell, who claimed the women’s 100m hurdles world record with a time of 12.09 seconds. Russell, who had previously come within a tenth of a second of Tobi Amusan’s 12.12-second mark on five separate occasions, celebrated the achievement as Amusan finished behind her in second place.
Elsewhere on the track, the men’s 800m saw David Rudisha’s long-standing world record of 1:40.91 remain intact, as Kenyan runner Emmanuel Wanyonyi crossed the line in 1:41.76. In the pole vault, Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis faced stiff competition from Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis but was unable to improve his own world record of 6.32m despite three attempts.
The 1500m race saw American Olympic champion Cole Hocker take victory, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen finished fifth. Ingebrigtsen is currently preparing for a highly anticipated showdown with Britain’s Josh Kerr at the upcoming Ultimate Championships, scheduled for September 11-13.
British sprinter Amy Hunt faced a difficult outing in the 100m, struggling to gain ground after a slow start. Olympic champion Julien Alfred secured the win in a 10.70-second photo finish, handing Melissa Jefferson-Wooden her first defeat in the distance over the last two years.
As the season nears its conclusion, the focus shifts to the Diamond League final in Brussels, set for September 4-5. The event will serve as a critical benchmark for athletes like Werro, Bol, and Hodgkinson as they look toward future international competitions, including the defense of Olympic titles in Los Angeles. The report also notes that straining hard against the clock, could not quite find the finishing pace she needed, clocking 1:53.70, however Werro. The report also notes that still, the third-fastest time in history shaves another tenth of a second off the 22-year-old’s personal best and only increases the sense that she will break the record sooner rather than later. The report also notes that i still had enough energy at the end of the race to accelerate and to stay in the lead. The report also notes that which shows that I can run consistently and fast now and this is good for the future, i am so proud to be able to run those sub-1:54 times. The report also notes that languid stride and sprint speed have already made an impression in the event and she is gaining tactical knowhow fast as she acclimatises to the bump and hustle of middle distance, broeders-Bol’s long. The report also notes that but to be honest, I didn’t expect it at all in the first season,” she said afterwards, i was hoping to be in these sort of fights. The report also notes that but here I am, i thought I needed at least one or two seasons to get into the 1:54s.
