<\/p>\n
In the last 30 metres of a boisterous and compelling women\u2019s 800m Diamond League final, Femke Broeders-Bol slipped out of Audrey Werro\u2019s slipstream and surged towards glory. \u201cI thought I had it,\u201d the Dutch star admitted afterwards. \u201cI\u2019ve never been so close.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as Broeders-Bol and Keely Hodgkinson have found repeatedly this season, the towering Werro is a mightily difficult athlete to knock off her perch. The Swiss athlete gritted her teeth, found a little more, and took the spoils once again.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt her coming,\u201d admitted Werro. \u201cAnd I really enjoyed this battle because it pushes me to always work and not to really get in my comfort zone. I just keep in mind that one day I will get beaten. But now I just enjoy the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Broeders-Bol at least had the comfort of knowing that she had got closer than ever before \u2013 just 0.05sec behind Werro\u2019s winning time of 1min 54.75. And when asked afterwards what made her Swiss opponent so good, she smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should ask her because I would like to know,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think first of all she\u2019s very strong in her mind. I think she\u2019s a real fighter. She really goes for it with no fear and just all in. But I think just her last 200m is phenomenal. I think I could learn something from it but I think it\u2019s her mind combined with her physical. She\u2019s still so young, but so extremely fast.\u201d<\/p>\n The good news for track and field fans is that Werro and Broeders-Bol will race one more time this season, at the Ultimate Championships in Budapest next week, with a $150,000 (\u00a3111,000) first prize on the line. Hodgkinson\u2019s coach, Trevor Painter, confirmed to the Guardian that she has recovered from a minor niggle and will be lining up too.<\/p>\n Elsewhere there was a surprise as Britain\u2019s Georgia Hunter Bell could only finish fourth in the women\u2019s 1500m. After the Polish athlete Klaudia Kazimierska charged to victory in a personal-best 3:54.05, Hunter Bell admitted that she had felt tired going into the race.<\/p>\n \u201cI was definitely tired,\u201d she said \u201cThe past few days have been struggling to find the adrenaline to kick in, because I\u2019ve had to tap into that so much this year. Three major championships, three golds, a bunch of Diamond League wins, British champs, like all this stuff. So you hit this point in the season, and it is hard to keep up that intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n Amy Hunt capped a fine weekend by coming second in the women\u2019s 100m in 11.06, ahead of the 2023 world champion Sha\u2019Carri Richardson in third. It was a decent time on a cool night, but there was no stopping the Jamaican Tina Clayton, whose lightning start had the race won in the opening 30 metres before she floated home in 10.93.<\/p>\n However Hunt wasn\u2019t too disappointed, having also finished third in Friday night\u2019s 200m<\/a>. And while this was her 43rd race of the season \u2013 including 13 indoors, 15 over 100m, 11 over 200m and four relays \u2013 Hunt believes she still has something left for next week\u2019s Ultimate Championships.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super-happy with that,\u201d she said. \u201cMy aim for this weekend was to come away with a podium finish, so to come away with two, and to also be the only athlete to actually attempt a double at this championship, I can be incredibly proud of that.<\/p>\n
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