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.”The final is Friday night.
It’s Mondo’s worldSwedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis sounds as if he’s fully recovered from a thigh issue that forced him to stop competing at the London Diamond League meet just over three weeks ago.The two-time reigning Olympic champion told the BBC that he’s eager for another world record. He wants one “like, yesterday.”
