The Swiss athlete is the first woman in history to break the 1:54 distance barrier on two separate occasions.
Audrey Vero may not have beaten Yarmila Kratochvilova’s 800m world record in Paris, but she is getting closer.
For decades, it seemed that Kratochvilova’s 1:53.28, the longest-standing track and field world record since 1983, was too good.
Until this year, the only woman to run under 1:54 for 800m was Nadezhda Olizarenko, who won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in 1:53.43.
Vero has now achieved the feat twice, backing Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson to victory in Stockholm in 1:53.98, after a dominant 1:53.80 in Paris.
With the half-way split set to be 55.5, it was clear that Verreau wanted to target the world record. At the press conference, he announced that the goal is “to follow and continue”.
Following pace-setter Myrte van der Schutt, who cleared 400m in 55.35, Verreau continued the run and crossed the 600m line in 1:25.27, just short of the target split of 1:24.50.
Vero arrived in Paris off the back of a European best of 1:22.85 in the 600m, closing out Keeley Hodgkinson’s 1:23.41 from 2023, so was confident of her speed endurance.
It showed in the final stages when the Swiss crossed the line in 1:53.80, which means she now holds the third and fourth fastest times in history.
“I am really satisfied with my speech today,” he said afterwards. “It was really hard to run at world record pace, but I was happy with my time. I think I was a bit late at the 600m mark so I tried to get to the lights. We can’t have that kind of delay in the race, so next time I want to stay with the lights more.
“It’s a lot easier when I’m competing with athletes who are as fast as me, like Keeley Hodgkinson. I think the world record will be lost when I’m in a race with another fast athlete.”
Vero confirmed after that he has no more 800m scheduled before the European Athletics Championships and that he has one more run before the training block before Birmingham.
In a race full of personal bests and national records, Femke Broders-Boll, in her first season in the 800m, improved her personal best of 1:57.13 to 1:55.60 from Ostrava. Only Vero and Hodgkinson have gone faster this year, setting up an intriguing meeting in Birmingham in August.
Anais Bourgoin and Sarah Billings set the respective records for France and Australia in 1:55.65 and 1:57.01.
Georgia Hunter Bell is another athlete who has competed over 800m this season, but she opted to run the 1500m in Paris and stormed to victory.
Just a week after winning the British 800m title in 1:55.93 at the Alexander Stadium, the Briton faced an uphill battle in the home straight against Frewein Hailu. The pair clocked 3:55.63 and 3:55.92 respectively.
Both 400m races also produced stunning times, with Marilydi Paulino and Colleen Cabinetship securing Diamond League records. Paulino clocked his third-fastest time of 48.48 to dominate one lap, while Kebinatshipi cruised to victory in an incredible 43.54.
His mark was just shy of the 43.53 he clocked in Tokyo to win the gold medal by one lap. Matthew Hudson-Smith did well for the first 300m and came home on the front straight but faded to finish fourth in 44.09.
Trayvon Bromell beat Noah Lyles in the men’s 100m. From the eighth line, the two-time world bronze medalist sent off the Paris Olympic champion with a result of 9.91 (0.1). Lyles was second in 9.92 and Lamont Marcel Jacobs was third in 9.96.
Great Britain’s Jamal set one of the fastest 110m hurdles marks in history, overtaking Trey Cunningham late to clock a personal best of 12.89 (0.8) to move eighth on the world all-time list. He also ran 12.98 just two days ago in Zagreb. Toby Amusan also scored in the 100m hurdles, winning in 12.28 (0.7) against a top-class field.
Marco Arop and Cameron Myers both led from the front in their respective 800m and 1500m races. The 2023 world 800m champion and Olympic silver medalist destroyed the field within two laps to cross the line in 1:41.84, the third-fastest time of his career; only bettering 1:41.20 at the Paris Olympics and 1:41.72 two years ago in Lausanne.
Ben Pattison, who was beaten by Jake Wightman in the 800m at the British Athletics Championships, bowed out to Arop after the race in Paris as he ran 1:43.71 for fourth. Nils Laros was rewarded with a last-minute change from the 1500m to the 800m, setting a personal best of 1:43.60 seconds.
Wightman clocked his fastest 1500m since winning the world title in Eugene four years ago, but even his 3:29.95 was not enough to stop the unstoppable Myers, who set an Australian record of 3:28.00.
Grant Fischer finished the day on the track by securing victory in the 5000m with a strong stroke of 12:54.80 ahead of Jakob Kropp (12:55.22) and Andreas Almgren (12:55.38). The German dominance also continued in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase as Karl Bebendorf won in 8:05.55.
On the field, Mondo Duplantis made another appearance and, after marrying fiance Desiree Englander in France last week, returned to winning ways in the pole vault with a meet record of 6.13m. He had three attempts at the world record of 6.32m, but that would have to wait.
The women’s javelin was won by world under-20 champion Jan Zi with a best mark of 67.44m, who continued her run in the Diamond League this season.
