Big scare, then big relief. Audrey Werro was very hot on Thursday during her 800 meter semi-final at the European Championships in Birmingham, eliminated after a fall then re-drafted. But it’s now the big day, with the grand final this Friday evening, scheduled for 10:46 p.m.
The Fribourgeoise should be in full possession of its means. “I just have a few scratches. But at the time, yes, I was a little out of breath, but now I’m fine,” she said just after her mishap, reports Frapp.
His father, present on site, also confided to our Friborg colleagues that he had gone through all the states of mind. “At the moment, I go completely crazy. I want to smash everything,” he said, having reacted when his daughter fell, before knowing the happy ending. He is now also focused on the final: “We are going to motivate her to the max, pump her up like a mad lioness to win.”
D-day then, for the lioness. Athletic fans have been waiting for it for months. The three 800m sensations Audrey Werro, Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol find themselves for the first time on the same starting line this Friday for what is already described as the “race of the year”, explains AFP.
In a season without major championships (Worlds or Olympics), the prospect of seeing the oldest athletics world record fall, the very controversial 1 min 53 sec 28 of the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983, caused a lot of ink to flow at the start of summer.
A new era
The Olympic champion of the discipline Keely Hodgkinson had announced for a long time that she wanted to tackle it, but it was ultimately the Swiss Audrey Werro who came closest by running twice under 1 min 54 (1:53.98 in Stockholm ahead of Hodgkinson and 1:53.80 in Paris), times not seen in forty years.
The British and the Swiss are now leading a discipline that has entered a new era. And to their reunion on Friday is added the presence of the Dutch Femke Broeders-Bol, the double world champion in the 400m hurdles who took up the 800m this year.
The least we can say is that the transition was successful: with her bouncy stride, Broeders-Bol ran the double lap of the track in 1 min 55 sec 60 and is the third best world performer of the year.
Enough to transform the final into a real fireworks display, especially since the three athletes have never been lined up together on the same starting line.
In a tactical discipline, where placement is crucial, what will be the race choices? Should we expect an ultra-fast race towards uncharted times, or a tactical race for the gold medal, even if it means giving the outsiders their chances?
“We don’t care about the times”
“I don’t see what point there would be in doing a tactical race, when Keely and Audrey are already used to running fast in front,” said Anaïs Bourgoin, a candidate for the podium with a personal best (1:55.65) very close to that of Broeders-Bol.
For their part, both Werro and Hodgkinson reiterated that they were aiming for gold in Birmingham before thinking about the record.
“I don’t know if the race will be fast or tactical but we’re in a championship, the objective is to win the medal so I don’t think it’s the best place to break a world record,” Werro said after his repechage.
“We are going to do three races in four days, that changes everything,” Hodgkinson also warned. “There are no hares, we don’t care about times, it’s about knowing how to manage the pressure of a championship.”
If Audrey Werro seems the strongest on paper, Keely Hodgkinson is the one with the most championship experience. For Femke Broeders-Bol, the final risks being a discovery, as she has not yet had much opportunity to race in a jostling peloton.
“I’m not the one who’s going to control the race,” Broeders-Bol admitted after the heats. “On 400m hurdles, I had my own lane, my own hurdles, I knew what I was worth. There, everything is new!”
