Defending champion plays it cool but still qualifies fastest as big hitters land the first 800m blows at the European Championships.

Keely Hodgkinson insisted she didn’t need to “put any kind of statement out”, yet still the Olympic champion ran the fastest time in the opening qualifying heats of the women’s 800m at the European Championships in Birmingham on Tuesday morning (August 11). 

“I back myself, I don’t need to go crazy trying to prove anything – that’ll come in the final, hopefully, when it really matters,” said the two-time defending champion. 

All of the big hitters – home favourite Hodgkinson, Switzerland’s world leader Audrey Werro and 400m hurdles world champion Femke Broeders-Bol – were in action for the first stages of what promises to be a heavyweight middle distance contest of the highest order. 

They were kept apart for the heats and it was the Briton who got the opportunity to land the first blow, winning the opening race in a time of 1:57.28. Broeders-Bol finished first in heat two with a more sedate 1:59.96, while Werro seemed entirely untroubled by her winning run of 1:57.83 in a third heat that also saw Britain’s Jemma Reekie progress with 1:58.45 in fourth.

On another day of bright sunshine in the West Midlands, Hodgkinson opted to keep her cool by donning a pair of sunglasses but joked: “I’m trying not to get wrinkles and to stop the botox early so the sunglasses had to come on today. Sometimes it’s quite nice just to block everything out.”

The world indoor champion stayed clear of trouble throughout the race, leading the whole way, albeit Eloisa Coiro’s Italian record of 1:57.56 for second meant she didn’t establish too big of a gap. Hodgkinson, however, insists she is in excellent shape – a key session at her recent training camp in Portugal providing “a nice PB”. 

“I felt really good. I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever run in a heat, at the European Champs,” she added. “I could feel the girls pushing on my shoulder but, to be honest, that kind of pace is a bit more to the rhythm I train at so it was kind of nice. I don’t want to overdo it.”

Perhaps the only negative of the performance was that there weren’t more people there to see it, another disappointingly small crowd adding to what has been a noticeable theme of the early days of these championships. 

Yet still there were enough in the stadium to raise the adrenalin levels of the athlete they will hope to cheer on to victory during Friday evening’s final.  

“I got goosebumps and it was very motivating,” added Hodgkinson. “I was ready, heard the crowd and [then it was] like, ‘okay, now I’m even more ready’.”

Werro’s mission, of course, is to try and spoil the party. With the Swiss having defeated Hodgkinson already this year, at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting, what it would mean to her to repeat the trick in front of the British crowd?

“It doesn’t change a lot,” said the 22-year-old. “It’s true there are a lot of people here for [Keely] but I think there are a lot of Swiss people here too. It’s great to be here at the European Championships but I’m expecting great things.”

The watching world had his expectations too, given that Werro became the first woman in 43 years to run under 1:54 and took the world lead down to 1:53.80 earlier this year.

She added:  “It’s a bit different from other championships because I was never the best, the favourite athlete and now it’s a little bit more pressure but I think I can take this pressure and use it as a positive thing. It has also given me a lot of confidence because I know that I can run fast.”

It was a good morning in general for the British athletes on show and Lina Nielsen produced a landmark run in the semi-finals of the women’s 400m hurdles.

The Olympic 4x400m relay medallist who disclosed being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 2022 destroyed her previous personal best of 54.43 with a run of 54.04 to finish second in the final heat in Birmingham.

Her team-mate Emily Newnham left it late but ultimately was in full control as she qualified from heat one, finishing strongly to clock 54.32 and finish second behind Ayomide Folorunso of Italy (53.93). European leader Emma Zapletalová also went safely through, winning heat two in 54.09, while Belgium’s Paulien Couckuyt was quickest overall with her PB of 53.87.

In round one of the men's 400m hurdles, Britain's Josh Faulds qualified fastest overall with 48.90 and, in the men's 110m hurdles heats, a run of 13.57 (-2.0) took Commonwealth silver medallist Samuel Bennett through to the semi-finals.

Kimani Jack and Joel Clarke-Khan also impressed in qualifying for the final of the men's high jump, both the Commonwealth bronze medallist and British champion going over 2.23m at the first time of asking to lead the way. Defending European champion Gianmarco Tamberi and Ukraine's Oleh Doroshchuk also went clear at that height.

In men's discus qualifying, it was Lithuania's 2022 champion and current world record-holder Mykolas Alekna who set the standard with a throw of 67.74m. Kristjan Čeh got closest to him with 67.52m.