In the last 30 metres of a boisterous and compelling women’s 800m Diamond League final, Femke Broeders-Bol slipped out of Audrey Werro’s slipstream and surged towards glory. “I thought I had it,” the Dutch star admitted afterwards. “I’ve never been so close.”
But as Broeders-Bol and Keely Hodgkinson have found repeatedly this season, the towering Werro is a mightily difficult athlete to knock off her perch. The Swiss athlete gritted her teeth, found a little more, and took the spoils once again.
“I felt her coming,” admitted Werro. “And I really enjoyed this battle because it pushes me to always work and not to really get in my comfort zone. I just keep in mind that one day I will get beaten. But now I just enjoy the first place.”
Broeders-Bol at least had the comfort of knowing that she had got closer than ever before – just 0.05sec behind Werro’s winning time of 1min 54.75. And when asked afterwards what made her Swiss opponent so good, she smiled.
“You should ask her because I would like to know,” she said. “But I think first of all she’s very strong in her mind. I think she’s a real fighter. She really goes for it with no fear and just all in. But I think just her last 200m is phenomenal. I think I could learn something from it but I think it’s her mind combined with her physical. She’s still so young, but so extremely fast.”
The good news for track and field fans is that Werro and Broeders-Bol will race one more time this season, at the Ultimate Championships in Budapest next week, with a $150,000 (£111,000) first prize on the line. Hodgkinson’s coach, Trevor Painter, confirmed to the Guardian that she has recovered from a minor niggle and will be lining up too.
Elsewhere there was a surprise as Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell could only finish fourth in the women’s 1500m. After the Polish athlete Klaudia Kazimierska charged to victory in a personal-best 3:54.05, Hunter Bell admitted that she had felt tired going into the race.
“I was definitely tired,” she said “The past few days have been struggling to find the adrenaline to kick in, because I’ve had to tap into that so much this year. Three major championships, three golds, a bunch of Diamond League wins, British champs, like all this stuff. So you hit this point in the season, and it is hard to keep up that intensity.”
Amy Hunt capped a fine weekend by coming second in the women’s 100m in 11.06, ahead of the 2023 world champion Sha’Carri Richardson in third. It was a decent time on a cool night, but there was no stopping the Jamaican Tina Clayton, whose lightning start had the race won in the opening 30 metres before she floated home in 10.93.
However Hunt wasn’t too disappointed, having also finished third in Friday night’s 200m. And while this was her 43rd race of the season – including 13 indoors, 15 over 100m, 11 over 200m and four relays – Hunt believes she still has something left for next week’s Ultimate Championships.
“I’m super-happy with that,” she said. “My aim for this weekend was to come away with a podium finish, so to come away with two, and to also be the only athlete to actually attempt a double at this championship, I can be incredibly proud of that.
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“It maybe wasn’t a weekend for running quick times,” she added. “But it was a weekend for really going head to head, and I find that’s always one of my strengths – my ability to stay calm and have no fear and take on the best in the world.”
Elsewhere there were plenty of fast times despite the conditions. The event started with Marileidy Paulinho running a meeting record of 48.64 in the women’s 400m to beat Henriette Jager, while the American Kenny Bednarek equalled the fastest 200m time in the world this year to win at a canter in 19.62.
“I’m definitely happy with this result,” said Bednarek, who will also run in Budapest next week. “To get the win under these cold conditions and a bit of sickness … I can’t ask for more. Next week, if I execute well, I can drop a massive PB.”
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