Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 14

Audrey Werro Wins 800m Gold in 1:54.81 as Keely Hodgkinson Settles for European Silver

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 14

Audrey Werro Wins 800m Gold in 1:54.81 as Keely Hodgkinson Settles for European Silver

Q: Did the controversial unintentional touch rule inadvertently rob Keely Hodgkinson of a historic third consecutive European title?

Not clearly. The rule allowed Audrey Werro back into the final, and Werro then beat Keely Hodgkinson fairly on the track, so it is too strong to say the rule “robbed” Hodgkinson of history. What is clear is that the “unintentional touch” provision was decisive. Video review found Werro had been accidentally impeded in her semi-final when Anais Bourgoin’s hand clipped her foot, causing her fall. Under World Athletics Technical Rule 17.1.1, referees can advance an athlete who has been seriously affected by accidental obstruction. Officials did that, and the final was expanded to 10 runners. Without that ruling, Werro would not have been in the final, and Hodgkinson would have had one major rival fewer in her attempt to win a third straight European 800m title. In that narrow sense, the rule changed the competitive landscape. But the evidence does not support the idea of an injustice to Hodgkinson. The rule exists precisely to prevent an athlete being eliminated by accidental interference. Werro was leading her semi-final when she fell, had already shown world-class form this season, and then won the final in a championship record 1:54.81. Hodgkinson herself had said after the semi-final that she hoped Werro would recover and make the final, calling the matchup exciting. So the rule may have denied Hodgkinson an easier path, but it did not inadvertently cheat her. It restored a contender who was wrongly impeded, and that contender then earned gold.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 14

1:54.81 gave Switzerland's Audrey Werro the women's 800m gold in Birmingham, where she held off Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson and set a championship record for her first senior international title.
Hodgkinson finished in 1:55.01 after trying to reel Werro in on the final bend, but the Briton could not complete a third straight European title in front of a 23,000 sellout crowd at Alexander Stadium.
Werro's victory capped a rapid rise after she became the fastest woman since 1983 earlier this season and beat Hodgkinson in Stockholm in June with the first sub-1:54 run in 43 years.
The Swiss 22-year-old's win was even more striking because she had fallen in Thursday's semi-final and was reinstated, while Dutch runner Femke Broeders-Bol took bronze in 1:55.54 in the 10-athlete final.
For Britain, Hodgkinson's silver was her 12th senior international medal and the home team's 10th medal in five days, underscoring the depth of a rivalry that now points toward next year's World Championships.