Exactly one week away from Femke Bol’s first international appearance over 800m, one of her likely European rivals, Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, made a huge statement of intent for the year at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val-de-Reuil, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on Sunday (1).
The Swiss European U23 champion raced away from a quality field to win the women’s 800m in 1:57.49, underlining her status as the European Athletics women's Rising Star, an award she won last October at the Golden Tracks awards night.
It was the 21-year-old’s first competition of the season and she slashed more than two seconds off her own national indoor record from last year as she moves to second on the 2026 world list behind Great Britain's Isabelle Boffey who ran 1:57.43 in Boston on Friday.
European indoor silver medallist Clara Liberman had to settle for a distant second in front of her home French fans, finishing in a personal best of 2:00.42. Italy’s Eloisa Coiro was third, a further 0.11 behind.
Schilder opens with 19.78m
Another world champion, the Netherlands’ Jessica Schilder, also gave a demonstration of her class in the women’s shot put.
Making her season debut, the Dutch athlete won with 19.78m, placing her third on the world lists and just eight centimetres behind Germany’s Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye, who had landed a European lead just a day earlier in Nordhausen.
Sweden’s Fanny Roos was second to Schilder with a best of 18.29m, while Finland’s Emilie Kangas was third with 17.89m.
Guillemot sets national record
There was a crowd-pleasing French indoor record in the women’s mile, delivered by European indoor 1500m champion Agathe Guillemot, who won in 4:23.77, taking 2.22 seconds off her own best time from last year.
The men’s mile was won by Kenya’s Vincent Kibet Keter in 3:55.03, with Belgium’s Ruben Verheyden a close second in 3:55.35.
The women’s 60m hurdles produced a blanket finish, resulting in a career-best win for Finland’s Saara Keskitalo, who clocked a personal best of 7.95. France’s Laeticia Bapte recorded the same time but was adjudged second, while Paris 2024 Olympic finalist Alaysha Johnson of the USA was third in 7.96.
World and European indoor bronze medallist Carl Bengström of Sweden won the men's 400m in a meeting record 46.09.
Reigning world indoor and outdoor champion Leyanis Perez Hernandez from Cuba provided another highlights, leaping to a world lead of 14.65m in the women’s triple jump.