European Athletics Championships, Werro beats Hodgkinson in the 800m: Switzerland takes the title from the home favourite

The 27th European Athletics Championships are being held from 10 to 16 August 2026 at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham: it is the first time a British city has hosted the event. The fifth day, Friday 14 August, produced the most talked-about result of the week.

The women’s 800m. Switzerland’s Audrey Werro won the race ahead of Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, claiming the first senior title of her career. This is according to the official European Athletics results reported by Olympics.com and the live editorial coverage from Sky Sports from the stadium.

The significance of the result lies in the context: Hodgkinson was racing at home, in front of the British public, and women’s middle-distance running is one of the disciplines on which the host team was building part of its medal tally. A first senior title won under those conditions carries a different weight than one won on neutral ground.

The British tally. The loss in the 800m did not dent the home team’s overall performance – quite the opposite. Amy Hunt won both the 100m and the 200m, completing the sprint double in the women’s events. Romell Glave took the 100m and Matthew Hudson-Smith the 400m. Four titles across the sprints and the one-lap event: for a nation hosting the championships for the first time, this is the segment of the programme where the team’s build-up paid off most.

Italy. Nadia Battocletti won gold in the 10,000m after already claiming it in the 5,000m: a double in the longer middle-distance events. The benchmark for measuring the progress of the Italian squad comes from the previous edition, which closed at the top of the medal table with eleven golds and twenty-four medals overall, according to the summary table published by Olympics.com. It is a demanding point of comparison, and Birmingham’s final tally will need to be read against that number, not against pre-event expectations.

What remains on the schedule. The last two days shift the focus outside the stadium. On Saturday 15 August, the road walking events are on the calendar: the half marathon race walk and the marathon race walk. Sunday 16 closes with the marathon. These are the events that, given their duration and time of day, depend most of all on environmental conditions, and that decide titles through different racing dynamics than those on the track: management of prolonged effort, group tactics, adaptation to the urban course.

The overall picture with two days remaining shows three elements. First: Great Britain has converted home advantage into the sprint events, with four titles across the 100m, 200m and 400m. Second: the home favourites’ defeats have been concentrated in middle distance, where Werro upset the odds. Third: Italy is building on the long distances, with Battocletti’s double over 5,000m and 10,000m, a different profile from the British one and consistent with the road events still to be decided.

The final medal count will close on Sunday 16 August with the finish of the marathon, the last event on the calendar.