Audrey Werro made a bold bid to break the world record as she ran to an impressive victory at the Golden Spike in Ostrava on Tuesday (16), a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, while Femke Broeders-Bol made an impressive outdoor debut over the distance.
European U23 champion Werro has already set new standards this year, moving to third on the world all-time list with 1:53.98 as she beat Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson in Stockholm earlier this month.
That performance put Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 43-year-old world record of 1:53.28 on notice, and the Czech legend was in the stands in Ostrava as Werro targeted new territory.
Second best time ever for Werro
Werro tucked in behind the pacemaker from the break, with Broeders-Bol bravely following. They passed the bell in 55.83 and, as the pacemaker stepped aside, Werro took over the lead.
Broeders-Bol stuck to her task down the back straight, but by the 600m mark the Swiss athlete had begun to pull away, racing against the clock on her own.
In the end, Werro had to settle for a comfortable but rapid victory in 1:54.46 – the second-fastest performance of her career, behind only her Stockholm heroics. Broeders-Bol dug deep to finish second in a satisfying 1:57.13, moving to third on the Dutch all-time list, while Italy’s Eloisa Coira was third in 1:58.59.
400m wins for Manuel and Molnar
There was a European double in the 400m with Czechia home favourite and world indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel winning the women's race in 49.74 and European indoor champion Attila Molnar of Hungary winning the men's race in 44.56.
Broeders-Bol's Dutch teammate Nadine Visser recovered from a sluggish start to pip former European champion Pia Skrzyszowska by 0.01 in 12.65 (-0.1m/s). But her Polish teammate and European silver medallist Ewa Swoboda won the women's 100m in 11.09 (+0.5m/s).
In the field, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece won the men's pole vault with a best of 5.82m, Italy's Leonardo Fabbri won the men's shot with 21.91m and Serbia's Adriana Vilagos won the women's javelin with 62.92m.
Photos courtesy of James Rhodes and Getty Images