Ready, set, world class – Audrey Werro impresses with the world’s second-best time of the year over 800 m

As if they knew it: The organizers of the Swiss Championships scheduled the 800m race as the final event of the event. And Audrey Werro ran a race that actually belonged in a large arena, not in Frauenfeld's Kleine Allmend. Werro took control from the start, running a solo time of 1:56.29 minutes.

In doing so, she improved the national record, which she had only lowered to 1:57.25 in May, by almost a second. And most importantly, she ran the second-best time worldwide this year—and she did it solo, without the help of a pacemaker. There's probably only one other athlete capable of such a feat: Keely Hodgkinson, the British Olympic champion.

The 800m final of the national championships was announced as one of the highlights because it was a qualifying race for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. Five athletes could have been selected based on their performances, but there are only three starting places per federation. Swiss Athletics therefore scheduled trials: The top three finishers from Frauenfeld would fly to Tokyo.

The necessity of trials speaks to the high level of this discipline. A similar situation had previously only occurred in the women's 100m. However, Philipp Bandi, Head of Competitive Sports at Swiss Athletics, expects that such eliminations will occur in two or three more disciplines in the future. This is especially true when it comes to European Championship tickets, for which the thresholds are somewhat less stringent.

On paper, it was clear that Werro belonged at the World Championships. To avoid any mishap during a collision, she immediately resolutely took the lead and circled the track like a comet. When she saw her split time after one lap, she knew something big was possible and continued to push the pace. "Amazingly, the best races often feel easy," she said later.

At the Swiss Championships, she actually only wanted to race for the win and a spot in the World Championships; she had set her sights on breaking the national record for Weltklasse Zürich next Thursday. Now she had to find a new goal, she said. She didn't know what that would be. But her dream for this season would be a time of 1:55.

Werro is an exceptional talent rarely seen, even internationally. At just 17 years old, she won gold at the U20 European Championships in 2021, repeated the feat in 2023, and also ran to the U23 European Championship title this summer.

Even more impressive are the times she's already run at just 21 years old. Recently, Werro sprinted the 400m in 51.03. By comparison, she won the title at the Swiss Championships in 52.29. In the 800m, she's currently only ahead of Hodgkinson worldwide – and all other athletes in the top 10 are older than the Freiburg native.

Werro is coached at the CA Belfaux regional club by Christiane Berset Nuoffer. The teacher practically grew with the talent that joined her running group. She completed various coaching courses, exchanged ideas with the national coaches, and understood from the very beginning how to provide Werro with a level-appropriate workout. The athlete graduated from high school in June and is now concentrating entirely on sports.

This should make it possible to increase the training volume somewhat, schedule the sessions more flexibly, and, above all, find more time for recovery. After this season, Werro will take his first proper vacation in years, with three weeks off from training and schoolwork.

Berset Nuoffer has applied for a one-year sabbatical for 2026, allowing her more flexibility in training. The plan is for her to fly with the runner to a training camp in the Southern Hemisphere for three weeks in November. The coach is in discussions with coaches and athletes; the goal is for Werro to be able to train with international-level runners.

In addition to pure running development, she also places emphasis on tactical training. Werro was so superior, especially in the junior categories, that she was able to simply outrun the others. In the senior categories, she found herself in the middle of the pack, elbow-to-elbow, and paid the price for her mistakes.

The last time this happened to her was in March at the European Indoor Championships, where she was the strongest athlete in the field, ran poorly tactically, and fell. They invested a lot of time processing it, says the coach. "One of Audrey's strengths is that she reacts positively to disappointments." Two weeks after the European Indoor Championships, she ran tactically smartly at the World Indoor Championships in China and narrowly missed a medal.