Keely Hodgkinson wins silver as Swiss star Werro takes European 800m title

Keely Hodgkinson was forced to settle for silver at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham as Switzerland's Audrey Werro denied the Briton a third consecutive title in a thrilling women's 800m final. The most eagerly anticipated event of the championships culminated in an expected three-way battle between Hodgkinson, Werro and Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol in front of 23,000 fans at Alexander Stadium. Werro, 22, finished strong to land her first senior international title in a championship record of 1 minute 54.81 seconds, with Hodgkinson crossing in 1:55.01. "Mixed emotions," Hodgkinson told the BBC. "I think with that level of competition, any medal is a really good achievement. But I'm defending champion, so I wanted to do that. I really thought I was going to win today." The silver was the 24-year-old's 12th senior international medal and the British team's 10th medal in five days at the championships.