European Athletics Championship: Keely Hodgkinson forced to settle for silver as Audrey Werro wins women's 800m gold

Britain's Keely Hodgkinson was denied a hat-trick of European 800m golds

Keely Hodgkinson came up just short of a coveted European 800m title hat-trick after Swiss favourite Audrey Werro won their hotly-anticipated showdown in Birmingham as the British Olympic champion settled for silver.

Hodgkinson started quicker but was overtaken by Werro on the back straight and the latter was never overtaken after the first 200m.

Double-defending champion Hodgkinson was just behind as they rounded the final bend, but Werro would not be caught and crossed the finish in a championship record 1:54.81.

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Werro, Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol finished first, second and third in the highly-anticipated 800m final

Hodgkinson claimed silver in 1:55.01 and the Netherlands' Femke-Broeders Bol took bronze in a national record 1:55.54.

After losing her title, Hodgkinson said: "Mixed emotions. With that level of competition, any medal is an achievement.

"I thought I was going to win. I didn't do anything wrong, just one of those things.

"I've had a pretty good day today, just didn't go the way that I wanted.

"There were so many different ways that could have played out and we'd figure it out after the first 100m. Audrey wanted to take it on and with that wind I was happy to let her. We're all really great athletes so I knew it was going to be close. I'm looking forward to the next match-up.

"I've said all year it's really motivating to be in such a competitive event. I love it, it brings out the best in me. Championship racing, that's what it's all about, you don't know how it's going to go and some people can have a good day or a bad day. I had a pretty good day today but it just didn't go how I wanted it to."

The world record remains the longest-standing record in athletics set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvilova's with a time of 1:53.28 seconds.

While the world record wasn't troubled, Werro's time of 1:54.81 did break the championship record set by Olga Mineyeva in 1982.

Hodgkinson's silver medal is Britain's 10th medal in five days on home soil. Earlier on Friday, Zharnel Hughes claimed silver in the men's 200m.