WERRO FALLS SHORT OF 800M RECORD IN OSTRAVA

Swiss athlete Audrey Werro finished second in the women's 800 metres at the Ostrava Golden Spike, missing her opportunity to break the long-standing world record. Werro won the race in a time of one minute and 54.55 seconds, the eighth-fastest in history. Dutch runner Femke Broeders-Bol, competing in her first outdoor race at the distance, secured second place in 1:57.13.

Werro had targeted the women's 800m record of 1:53.28, set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983 at the same venue. The 22-year-old had demonstrated her form two weeks earlier in Stockholm, where she defeated Keely Hodgkinson with a time of 1:53.98, the fastest in the world this year and third-fastest ever recorded. She remained in contention through 600 metres but could not sustain her pace over the final stages.

Broeders-Bol's second-place finish marked her maiden outdoor competition at the 800m following her switch from the 400m hurdles last year. The 25-year-old, a two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles and world indoor champion over 400 metres, became the third-fastest Dutch woman over two laps. She competed as a relay athlete for the Netherlands at Paris 2024, where she anchored the 4x400m team to gold. Olympic 100 metres champion Noah Lyles set a world's best of 14.67 over the unofficial 150-metre distance on the curved track.