Keely Hodgkinson has said she is ready to face a new generation of 800m rivals after Switzerland’s Audrey Werro ended her European title reign in Birmingham. The British Olympic champion sees the defeat as part of the sport’s changing competitive landscape, with potential battles against Werro, Dutch athlete Femke Broeders-Bol and others likely to shape the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Hodgkinson, 24, had previously won three consecutive global silvers before claiming Olympic gold in Paris, and has since broken the 24-year-old indoor 800m world record and won her first world title. Her outdoor season has been disrupted by setbacks including a muscle twinge and a training fall, although she improved her British record in Stockholm and beat Broeders-Bol at the London Diamond League before taking European silver behind Werro.