Keely Hodgkinson returns from injury scare for Werro and Broeders-Bol showdown
Keely Hodgkinson returns from injury scare for Werro and Broeders-Bol showdown
Jeremy WilsonMon, September 7, 2026 at 3:11 PM UTC
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Keely Hodgkinson trailed Audrey Werro in second at the European Championships last month - Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Keely Hodgkinson has been confirmed for the inaugural World Ultimate Championship, where she will renew 800 metre rivalries with Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol in a $150,000 showdown.
The Olympic champion has missed recent Diamond League races involving Werro, the first woman under 1min 54sec for more than 40 years, and world 400m hurdles champion Broeders-Bol, who has switched this year to the two-lap race.
Hodgkinson has experienced discomfort in her hamstring since finishing between Werro and Broeders-Bol at the European Championships last month, but her coach Trevor Painter has confirmed that she will return in Budapest later this week. The women’s 800m semi-finals will take place on Friday ahead of Saturday’s final.
“She will be there,” wrote Painter on X following speculation that Hodgkinson may also miss the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, the richest event in the sport’s history with a $10m (£8.6m) prize pot and $150,000 for each individual winner.
Werro has dominated the women’s 800m this season to win both the European Championships and move within range of the oldest world record in athletics: Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1min 53.28sec mark that has stood since 1983.
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She was pushed closely, though, by Broeders-Bol at the Diamond League final on Friday while Hodgkinson lost to her by only 0.20sec at the European Championships and herself set a world indoor record earlier this year. With Broeders-Bol clearly still improving, beating the 22-year-old Werro in Budapest would represent a huge confidence boost to end a season in which the balance of power in the event has undoubtedly shifted.
Amy Hunt will also race in both the 100m and 200m sprints on respectively Saturday and Sunday night where, after winning four gold medals at the European Championships, she will take on the very best sprinters in the world. Hunt is the 200m World Championships silver medallist and registered a season’s best in her preferred longer sprint on Friday.
Amy Hunt will be in action in Budapest following her four golds in Birmingham - Retuers/Peter Cziborra
Josh Kerr will also make an eagerly awaited return on Sunday for what will be his first 1500m race of the season and a potential showdown with his great Norwegian rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Kerr won the world indoor 3,000m title before setting a world record and then winning Commonwealth Games gold in the mile and has been granted a wild card for Sunday’s race in Budapest, on the same track he won his first world title in 2023.
Ingebrigtsen also has a wild card entry over 1500m. He has suffered a series of setbacks on his comeback from Achilles’ tendon surgery and there has been a suggestion he may focus on the 5,000m, a distance in which he is both Olympic and European champion. There has, however, been no official confirmation of any change of plan since he was awarded the wild card. Ingebrigtsen also intends to run the world 5,000m championships on the road later this month.
“I love racing and I try to do as much as I can,” said Ingebrigtsen, who has not raced Kerr since the final of the Olympic 1500m in Paris two years ago.
Source: “AOL Sports”
