The world record for the women's 800m is the longest-standing in athletics. No-one has managed to break it for 43 years.
So why, despite leaps forward in shoe technology and our understanding of nutrition and recovery, has that record not fallen?
Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson is one of the top three middle-distance runners in the world competing at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham this week. So could that record, finally, be broken?
The women's 800m world record is held by Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova, who ran a time of one minute 53.28 seconds in 1983.
There have been claims that Kratochvilova's performance in Munich was ***** isted by the systematic doping regime that existed in her country at the time - something she has strenuously denied.

#athletics #keely #hodgkinson #european

There are 50 gold medals up for grabs at the 27th European Athletics Championships at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham from 10-16 August.
Great Britain lead the medal table after day two of the Championships with two golds and two silvers.
Amy Hunt and Romell Glave won golds in the 100m events on consecutive days, with Jeremiah Azu also taking silver in the latter event.
Meanwhile, the mixed 4x400m relay team picked up the hosts' first medal, finishing second on the opening night.
Dina Asher-Smith (100m), Keely Hodgkinson (800m), the women's half marathon team and the women's 4x100m relay squad all won gold as Great Britain came third in the medal table at Rome 2024.

#team

The first European Athletics Championships to be held in Great Britain are under way at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
The Championships take place from 10-16 August, with Britain's team of 94 athletes chasing top spot in the medals table.
Among the British stars on show are reigning 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith, local boy Matthew Hudson-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Amy Hunt, Georgia Hunter Bell and team captain Jake Wightman.
Global stars competing include Sweden's Armand Duplantis, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou, Italy's Marcell Jacobs, Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh and the Netherlands' Femke Broeders-Bol.
Athletes from 49 nations are competing for 50 gold medals - including a mixed 4x100m relay for the first time - and there are 10 world champions and seven Olympic champions taking part.

#smith #team #champions

Organizers of the European championships have defended ticket prices in Birmingham after British sprinter Amy Hunt won the 100-meter final at a nearly half-empty Alexander Stadium.
One of Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson's coaches was among those questioning prices and raising concerns about parking and the cost of food — with bratwurst hot dogs going for 15 pounds ($20).
The category A seats for Monday night's session — which included Jakob Ingebrigtsen's victory in the 5,000 meters and Hunt's gold — cost 150 pounds ($202). The cheapest adult ticket was 26 pounds ($35).
Official attendance Monday night was 13,623, though journalists on hand said the actual figure seemed lower, in a stadium with capacity at 23,000.
"Hearing from fans re high ticket prices, parking issues & even people not knowing it was taking place," Jenny Meadows, a coach of Hodgkinson, wrote on social media.

#ticket #pounds #stadium #organizers

Keely Hodgkinson and expected gold medal rivals Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol remain on course for their highly anticipated showdown after safely reaching Thursday's women's 800m semi-finals at the European Athletics Championships.
Olympic champion Hodgkinson, winner of the past two European **** les, controlled her heat throughout to win in one minute 57.28 seconds - the fastest time across the four heats on Tuesday morning.
Swiss athlete Werro, who stunned Hodgkinson by running the fastest time for 43 years to beat the Briton earlier this season, appeared equally comfortable as she won her race in 1:57.83.
There were no issues either for Femke Broeders-Bol. The fast-improving Dutch two-time world 400m hurdles champion, who chose to switch events this season, crossed the line first in 1:59.96.
Hodgkinson's post-race interview with BBC Sport was briefly interrupted by Italy's Eloisa Coiro, who said the 24-year-old was "an inspiration on and off the track".

#time #broeders #fastest

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Shy as a kid, Audrey Werro took her dad's advice before races that "I have to be a lion."
The 22-year-old Swiss star, who uses a lion's roar celebration, will be in the spotlight at the European championships when she's expected to line up against Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol in the highly anticipated women's 800 meters.
Britain's Hodgkinson is the reigning Olympic champion and Dutch star Broeders-Bol has impressed in her first year in the 800 after switching from the 400-meter hurdles. Meanwhile, Werro in late June ran the third-fastest women's time ever: 1 minute, 53.80 seconds.
The women's 800 world record of 1:53:28 was set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvilova.
"The goal is to win the medal," Werro said Sunday at a press conference at Alexander Stadium ahead of the seven-day European championships. "I don't know if the race will be fast or it will be a tactical race. I don't have the world record now in my head."

#european #World #don 't

The first European Athletics Championships to be held in Great Britain take place in Birmingham from 10-16 August.
The Championships get under way at Alexander Stadium on Monday, just over a week after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Among the British stars on show are defending champions Keely Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith, local boy Matthew Hudson-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Amy Hunt, Georgia Hunter Bell and Jake Wightman.
Sweden's Armand Duplantis, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou are all seeking to win their fourth successive European **** les, while Italy's Marcell Jacobs is targeting his third 100m **** le in a row.
The BBC will bring you comprehensive coverage of the championships on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, Radio 5 Live, the BBC Sport website, the BBC Sport app and the BBC Sport social media channels including YouTube.

#championships #birmingham

The biggest stars in European athletics head to Birmingham next week for the 2026 European Athletics Championships with continental **** les and in some cases world records on the line, just a week after the close of the Commonwealth Games.
A world-class field is headlined by the likes of Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, who has endured a stop-start season and faces fierce competition in what should be an electrifying 800m event, with Switzerland's Audrey Werro, the fastest woman in the world this year, and Femke Broeders-Bol – stepping up from her usual 400m hurdles – also on the startlist.
Hodgkinson's training partner and new Commonwealth Games 800m champion Georgia Hunter Bell is in action but only in the 1,500m, while reigning European 100m champion Dina Asher-Smith is back to defend her **** le alongside another British hope in world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt.
In total, 10 reigning world champions will be in action, including legendary pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, while Norway's Olympic 5,000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will make his long-awaited return from injury having not competed at all in 2026.
Here's everything you need to know.

#World #european #olympic

Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Brosnan are celebrating their 25th anniversary. In a post shared on her Instagram, Keely shared that she and Pierce married 25 years ago
The couple in 1995 (Getty Images)
In a post shared earlier today, Keely celebrated 25 years of marriage, sharing some adorable photos of herself and Pierce over the years. The photos show the two spending time with their dog, on a photoshoot on the beach, and sharing a kiss at what appears to be a red carpet event.
More photos show the two at red carpet events, with her concluding the post with a recent selfie of the two, showing off Pierce's striking silver hair.
"Happy 25th wedding anniversary my love! What an adventure life is with you. Looking forward to the next 25 years beside you," she captioned the post.

#shared #photos #brosnan #sharing

The Commonwealth Games might be the only sporting event for which the most-Googled terms are asking what they are and why they exist. One of the top stories on BBC Sport at the time of writing was simply headlined: “What are the Commonwealth Games?”
It’s a good question. They are an anachronistic idea, vaguely defined, thinly justified, a relic of our imperial past, like a mildly offensive heirloom quadrennially hauled down from the attic, modern sport’s unwelcome inheritance from another age.
So yes, the so-called Friendly Games are clearly a little unloved, given the battle to find a willing host. They were tossed aside by Melbourne before a stripped-back version was salvaged by Glasgow, a rescue Games.
They are not fully respected, given not all the stars will show up over the next 10 days. Keely Hodgkinson is prioritising other events. Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh is focused on the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, preferring to compete against serious American rivals rather than a bunch of island nations.
The Games might even be hard to find, given they are behind a paywall on TNT Sports in the UK, with only highlights on Channel 5.

#commonwealth

The Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow with one of British athletics’ biggest stars not competing after Keely Hodgkinson elected not to enter the event.
The Olympic 800m champion is, like all top athletes, managing a busy programme this summer and had long signalled her intention to skip the Games.
Hodgkinson will instead prioritise the European Athletic Championships, which begin in Birmingham on 10 August.
The middle-distance runner has won the last two continental crowns in the 800m, taking the **** le two years ago just before winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
There are 63 athletes entered for Team England in a busy athletics programme at Scotstoun Stadium, home of the Glasgow Warriors.

#glasgow #hodgkinson #athletics #athletes

Great Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell stormed to her second Diamond League win of the year with a season's best time in the women's 1500m in Paris.
The Olympic bronze medallist clocked three minutes 55.63 seconds to fight off a strong challenge from Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (3:55.92), while France's Agathe Guillemot (3:56.24) took third place.
Hunter Bell, who claimed her first world ****** le in Torun in March, also won the Rome leg of the Diamond League in 3:58.63 last month.
The 32-year-old won the world 800m silver ahead of Keely Hodgkinson in Tokyo last year, but has since returned to the longer distance in which she claimed a remarkable Olympic bronze in 2024.
And the latest win at Stade Charlety will further add to her momentum with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, starting in July, and the European Championships in Birmingham taking place the following month.

Keely Hodgkinson pulled out of the 400m final at the UK Athletics Championships moments before Sunday's race.
The Olympic 800m champion has been competing over the shorter distance in a bid to improve her first-lap speed and challenge for the 800m world record this summer.
After qualifying from Saturday's heats, she warmed up for the final in Birmingham but stepped off the track right before the finalists were put under starters' orders.
Hodgkinson looked emotional as she stood at the side of the track before making her way back inside the Alexander Stadium.
The 24-year-old endured an injury-disrupted 2025 and her shock withdrawal on Sunday comes four weeks before the London Diamond League meeting, which she had earmarked for a tilt at the 800m world record.