Swiss runner Audrey Werro says she believes the women’s 800-meter world record — one that has stood for nearly 43 years — is breakable, and that a head-to-head matchup with Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson could be the key to making it happen.
On Sunday at the Paris Diamond League, Werro took first place in the women’s 800 meters with a time of 1 minute and 53.80 seconds. Hodgkinson was not competing in the event.
The winning time edged out Werro’s previous personal best of 1:53.98, which she had set earlier this month in Stockholm. With this latest result, she became the first woman ever to finish under 1:54 on two separate occasions.
Both the 22-year-old Werro and Hodgkinson have their eyes on the world record of 1:53.28, set by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova back in 1983 — a mark that holds the distinction of being the longest-standing record in track and field.
“I’m really happy with my performance today. It was really hard to run at the pace of the world record but I was pleased with my time,” Werro said after the race.
She also reflected on a tactical moment during the run, saying, “I think I was a little bit late at the 600m mark, so I tried to catch up with the lights. We cannot have such a delay in the race so next time I want to stay more with the lights.”
Werro made clear that she believes the record will fall when she has the right competition beside her. “It’s way easier when I’m in the race with athletes who are as quick as me like Keely Hodgkinson for example. I think the world record will go when I am in a race with another quick athlete,” she said.
