GENEVA (AP) 鈥� Emerging track star Audrey Werro is racing closer and closer to winning a duel with Olympic 800-meters champion Keely Hodgkinson to break the sport鈥檚 oldest world record.
On Sunday, for the second time this month, the 22-year-old Swiss ran the third-fastest time in history 鈥� 1 minute, 53:80 seconds in Paris that was the best since 1983.
Werro celebrated with her trademark roar with hands raised like claws, a gesture she has said was inspired by her father urging her to be less shy in races and more like a lion.
Only Jarmila Kratochv铆lov谩鈥檚 record 1:53.28 for the then-Czechoslovakia, three years after the Soviet Union鈥檚 Nadezhda Olizarenko ran 1:53.43 to win the 1980 Moscow Olympics title, have gone faster.
Werro, who clocked 1:53.98 in Stockholm three weeks ago, has the record in her sights in a season with no distractions from an Olympics or world championships.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really very, very close,鈥� Werro said Sunday trackside at the Diamond League meeting at Charl茅ty in the Paris suburbs. 鈥淚鈥檓 really just happy to have my personal best which is already unbelievable.鈥�
Record-setting year
Taking down a record long thought out of reach from the doping-tainted 1980s in track and field shaped as a target this year.
Hodgkinson set the stage in February by shattering the 24-year world indoor mark with a 1:54.87 run in Li茅vin, France.
The 2024 Paris Olympics champion also set a personal best outdoor time of 1:54.33, though that earned just second place behind Werro in Stockholm and is now seventh on the all-time list.
Showdown at Europeans
The 24-year-old Hodgkinson has targeted the Diamond League meeting in London on July 18 as a record attempt, before a standout rematch with Werro at the European Championships. Also in the lineup could be Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol, the two-time 400 hurdles world champion, who switched to the 800 and was second Sunday in 1:55.60.
The women鈥檚 800 is the Friday finale on Aug. 14 at Birmingham, in Hodgkinson鈥檚 home country England.
Werro should then have home advantage Aug. 21 in Lausanne in the main event of the Athletissima meeting.
Going pro
Werro did not even make the semifinals at the Paris Olympics. In the 2025 world championships final in Tokyo she placed sixth, as favorite Hodgkinson took just bronze in a race won by Lilian Odira of Kenya.
There is one good reason for the Swiss prospect鈥檚 rapid progress.
鈥淚 feel that the biggest change in my life is the fact that I have become a professional athlete,鈥� Werro said Sunday. 鈥淚 am no longer at school, and I must say it was tough to juggle both.鈥�
鈥淣ow, there is no excuse as I have all the time in the world to just focus on the training, recovering and the sport itself.鈥�
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