Keely Hodgkinson: Olympic 800m champion sets new personal best and British record but finishes second to Audrey Werro | Athletics news

The Swiss runner beat the Olympic champion as she ran the third-fastest women’s 800m in history; In another shock Armand Duplantis failed to win the pole vault for the first time in 40 events.

Kiley Hodgkinson stunned at the Diamond League event in Stockholm

Keeley Hodgkinson ran her fastest 800m time on Sunday – but surprisingly still finished second at the Diamond League in Stockholm.

After Hodgkinson finished seventh in the 400m in Rome on Thursday, the Olympic champion returned to her favorite event but Audrey Wero stumbled to second place.

The Swiss runner finished first with a time of one minute 53.98 seconds – the third fastest women’s 800m in history and the fastest in 2026.

Hodgkinson and Wero pulled away from the field in Stockholm, but the British athlete could not keep pace with his rival despite a British record time of 1:54.33.

“It was a fast, really interesting race,” Hodgkinson said.

“When Audrey left I was like ‘just chill’, but had a lot of respect for her. It was a great race and it will motivate me to train even more to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

He added: “I can build on this great start. It’s still very early. It’s good to run on your legs because you learn what you can do well, but overall I’m pretty happy with that race because I made the right decisions, but Audrey was better that day.”

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Sky Sports’ Gerent Hughes gets exclusive access to an extraordinary Keely Hodgkinson training session

There were other surprises in Stockholm where pole vault star Armand Duplantis suffered a shock loss to Curtis Marshall after failing to clear 6.05m.

It is the first time in 40 events that the Swedes have not won.

Duplantis said: “I was feeling a bit useless today and I really didn’t want to lose here in front of my family and fans. I haven’t lost in three years? But kudos to Kurtis today who beat me fair and square and I have no excuses.”

British runner Amy Hunt had a personal best in the 200m earlier in the day, but finished second behind world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.