Hodgkinson second to Werro after hamstring tear

The women’s 800m trio has repeatedly delivered standout races this season, each billed as one of the year’s top contests and each time producing enthralling action. Since opening 2026 with a dominant indoor season that saw her win satellite indoor gold and break the indoor 800m record, Hodgkinson has consistently finished second to Werro in their head‑to‑head meetings. Werro, in her first full‑year as a professional athlete after completing her studies, continues to make striking progress, hinting at historic achievements. Forty‑three years have elapsed since a woman ran a sub‑1:54 800m; Werro has done it three times this summer, approaching Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1983 world mark of 1:53.28. Though not required to push the pace on this occasion, Werro displayed maturity by controlling the race before launching a decisive surge to victory. Hodgkinson expressed satisfaction with her ability to out‑kick two‑time satellite 400m hurdles champion Broeders‑Bol, who has also improved since switching events. Hodgkinson remarked, "I honestly emotion it. I deliberation it's truly large for our athletics and for women's athletics to person truthful galore astonishing women pushing each other." "I'm blessed to beryllium portion of it. Hopefully, adjacent time, I'll travel retired connected top." "I'm ever determination fighting. That's thing to beryllium arrogant of and instrumentality into the future. I'm lone 24 and hopefully I'll beryllium astir for a batch longer." Although she missed the title, Hodgkinson, who will conclude her season at Athlos next weekend, earned $75,000 (£55,000) for her performance. Athletes are vying for the sport’s largest ever prize purse at the Ultimat Championship, where a total of $10 million (£7.4 million) is on offer across three days of competition. Organisers hope the condensed, innovative format—designed to gather the world’s elite athletes at the season’s end, a slot that otherwise lacks a global championship—will help shape the sport’s future.