The Japan Times - Werro edges ever closer to elusive women's 800m world record

Werro clocked 1min 53.70sec for victory at the Letzigrund Stadium, a meet and national record and the third fastest time ever run over the two-lap distance.

It improved by 0.10sec her previous best set at the Paris Diamond League in June.

The 22-year-old Swiss sensation now owns four of the top 10 times in the 800m.

Femke Broeders-Bol improved the Dutch national record to 1:54.71 in second place.

Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson was absent but her training partner Georgia Hunter Bell produced a season's best of 1:55.03 to round out the podium.

Although Werro is always keen to play down talk of tilts at the 43-year-old world record in the distance, it seems only a matter of time before the Swiss re-writes the history books.

It is the oldest world record in track and field: Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia stormed to 1min 53.28sec over two laps of the Munich track back in 1983.

The mark remains highly contested, having come during a period when systemic doping of athletes was prevalent. Kratochvilova, however, never failed a doping test.

Nadezhda Olizarenko, of the then-Soviet Union, is second in the all-time list, 0.15sec slower when winning gold in the 1980 Olympic final in Moscow.

Next up in that list is Werro.

K.Tanaka--JT