by Keely Hodgkinson sent another worrying warning to her rivals before the world athletics championships next month when she broke the meeting of the meeting to win the 800m at Lausanne Diamond League.
In a weather closer to Manchester in October than a summer night in Switzerland, Hodgkinson ran 1 min 55.69 seconds to beat a quality field of 10 meters and win his second race in five days.
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Admittedly, the time of the Olympic champion was almost a second outside her performance on Saturday in Poland, where she ran the faster ninth in history. But under fresh and humid conditions, it has always easily finished the fastest second time of the year.
Audrey Werro from Switzerland finished second in 1: 57.34 After spending Hodgkinson’s training partner, Georgia Hunter Bell, in the fence meters. But they were all in a different stratosphere from Hodgkinson, who suffered record books of 1: 56.25 by Maria Mutola, which takes place in 2002.
“I could not have asked for a better start this season,” said Hodgkinson, who until Saturday had run for 376 days after undergoing three ischio-leg tears in nine months. “When the rhythm happens like that, you forget everyone and it paid with a solid performance.”
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Hunter Bell, Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500m, was more frustrated by his performance. “It was a little cold and humid, but coming from England, we cannot really complain,” she said. “I always wanted to run faster.”
Hunter Bell will announce this week if she will run 800m or 1500m at the World Championships in Tokyo. This race did not make its decision easier.
Horse racing lovers know the rebound factor well – the horses trend to work very well after a prolonged break, then to work badly on their second race. There was no sign of this with Hodgkinson.
This victory in Lausanne also sent a deeper message: you take the world number 1 at your own risk. As the world indoor world champion Sekgodiso discovered.
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The Cardiac stimulator Eveline Saalberg brought the ground to 400 m in a quick love at first sight 56.04, with the British with some progress in second position, before abandoning. At that time, only Sekgodiso decided to go with the hot rhythm that Hodgkinson was defining. And for a while, it seemed that she could give her something to think because the pair experienced 600 m in 85 seconds. But in the last 200m meters, the South African tank emptied and she returned from the second to sixth row, while Hodgkinson was heading for victory.
At one point, he seemed to be another British victory in the male 800m, Max Burgin leading a high quality field within the 50 meters final. However, while the rain was unleashed, the American Josh Hoey struck at home to win in 1: 42.82 with the Olympic champion, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, taking second place. Burgin finished fourth in 1: 43.44.
Two other British, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita, would have been less in love with their performances in the 200m female. Asher-Smith took a decent start, but she was repressed by the American Brittany Brown, who won in 22.23 seconds, with Favor ofili second. Despite a quick start, Asher-Smith could only finish fifth in 22.64 while Neita finished seventh in 22.73.
Meanwhile, in the 100m male, the Olympic champion, Noah Lyles, suffered another defeat when he was beaten by the oblique of Seville of Jamaica.
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In Driving Rain, Seville produced night performance to win in 9.87 seconds, with Lyles second in 10.02. It was America’s second defeat in four days, after losing against another Jamaican, Kishane Thompson on Saturday.
• This article was modified on August 21, 2025. An earlier version said that Keely Hodgkinson experienced 800 m in 85 seconds; However, it was his time after 600m.
