Werro wins Budapest 800m as Hodgkinson reveals hamstring tear

Audrey Werro won the women's 800m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Saturday, beating Keely Hodgkinson, who revealed afterwards that a hamstring tear had threatened her participation. BBC Sport reported that Werro led throughout and finished in 1 minute 55.88 seconds, with Britain's Olympic champion taking second in 1:56.26.

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Hodgkinson moved past Femke Broeders-Bol on the home straight to secure the runner-up finish. She told BBC Sport she had torn her hamstring during the European Championship final around four weeks earlier, when Werro beat her to that title. The injury subsequently kept Hodgkinson out of the Diamond League meetings in Zurich and Brussels, leaving her uncertain whether she would race in Budapest.

Rather than treating second place as a disappointment, Hodgkinson said she was proud of how she had approached the competition after the setback. She described the season as frustrating but said she could not be too hard on herself given the result. Her performance came after an indoor campaign in which she won world indoor gold and set an indoor 800m world record.

For Werro, the victory extended a breakthrough season. The 22-year-old Swiss runner is in her first year as a full-time athlete after completing university studies, according to the BBC. She has run under 1:54 three times this summer, moving closer to Jarmila Kratochvilova's world record of 1:53.28, set in 1983. In Budapest, she secured another major win without needing to approach those times.

Broeders-Bol's presence added another dimension to the race. The two-time world champion over 400m hurdles has progressed quickly in her first season after changing events, although Hodgkinson was able to overhaul her late on Saturday. Hodgkinson told the BBC that she welcomed the competition from both rivals and believed their races were good for women's sport, while making clear that she wanted to finish ahead of them next time.

Hodgkinson earned $75,000 for second place and is due to conclude her season at Athlos next weekend. The Ultimate Championship has a total prize fund of $10 million across three days. The event was introduced to gather leading athletes at the end of a season that would otherwise have had no global championship, with a condensed format intended to offer a new showcase for the sport.