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Werro edges ever closer to elusive women's 800m world record / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP
Werro edges ever closer to elusive women's 800m world record
Switzerland's Audrey Werro edged ever closer to the elusive world record in the women's 800m at the Zurich Diamond League meet on Thursday.
Werro clocked 1min 53.70sec for victory at the Letzigrund Stadium, a meet and national record and the third fastest time ever run over the two-lap distance.
It improved by 0.10sec her previous best set at the Paris Diamond League in June.
The 22-year-old Swiss sensation now owns four of the top 10 times in the 800m.
Femke Broeders-Bol improved the Dutch national record to 1:54.71 in second place.
Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson was absent but her training partner Georgia Hunter Bell produced a season's best of 1:55.03 to round out the podium.
Although Werro is always keen to play down talk of tilts at the 43-year-old world record in the distance, it seems only a matter of time before the Swiss re-writes the history books.
It is the oldest world record in track and field: Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia stormed to 1min 53.28sec over two laps of the Munich track back in 1983.
The mark remains highly contested, having come during a period when systemic doping of athletes was prevalent. Kratochvilova, however, never failed a doping test.
Nadezhda Olizarenko, of the then-Soviet Union, is second in the all-time list, 0.15sec slower when winning gold in the 1980 Olympic final in Moscow.
Next up in that list is Werro.
A.Harris--SMC
