RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Keely Hodgkinson's bid for European gold continued as she stormed into the final of the women's 800m - moments after rival Audrey Werro suffered a dramatic fall that put her place in Friday's showpiece in doubt.
Werro - who ran the fastest time for 43 years earlier this season - led from the start in the first semi-final, but crashed to the floor on the final bend in Birmingham.
The Swiss 22-year-old got back to her feet a moment later and finished the race in last place, grimacing and clutching her chest.
However, Werro will race against Hodgkinson in a highly anticipated final following a successful appeal, with footage showing France's Anais Bourgoin had hit Werro's right foot with her left hand.
An earlier angle had appeared to show Werro clipping her own leg before falling.
There was less drama in the second semi-final, with Hodgkinson safely crossing the line first in one minute 57.38 seconds.
The Olympic champion led from the start and held off the fast-improving Femke Broeders-Bol - a two-time world 400m hurdles champion who chose to switch events this season - to advance.
Asked if she had seen Werro's fall before her race, Hodgkinson told BBC TV: "I heard an 'ooh' [from the crowd] which is never a good sign. I don't know what it looked like."
Speaking before Werro's appeal, Hodgkinson added: "Obviously it's a real shame and I hope she's OK.
"I hope she's in the final tomorrow [Friday], that'd be a really exciting race."
The women's 800m has become the must-watch event of the championships because of the expected three-way battle between Hodgkinson, Werro and Broeders-Bol.
"The excitement makes me excited. I can't wait to step out there. It brings out the best in me," Hodgkinson added.
"I love a good challenge. Hopefully it'll be a good race, a clean race, nobody falling over."
Hodgkinson will be joined in the final by fellow Briton Jemma Reekie, who capitalised on Werro's fall to win the first semi-final.
There will be 10 athletes in Friday's final instead of nine, with Lithuanian athlete Gabija Galvydyte - who was clipped by Werro as she fell - also advancing.
The opening semi-final was panning out as expected until Werro suddenly stumbled and fell face first onto the track with just under 140m left to go.
"It was a hard hit on the floor. These tracks are incredibly hard, especially when they've been sun-baked," former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford said on BBC TV.
"It really was a difficult thing to watch, and you're just hoping at that point [that] there's no serious injury."
Werro appeared to be in some discomfort, rolling onto her side and clutching her chest before getting back up and finishing the race at a slow jog.
Paula Radcliffe, a former women's marathon world record holder, said: "Athletes know if that happens and you go down, you have to get up and finish.
"That is the only criteria that you're going to make it through. If you don't do that, you have no chance of being advanced through to that final.
"You could see she was not comfortable."
However, there was considerable confusion over whether Werro had tripped herself or been impeded by another athlete.
Rutherford believed Werro had "kicked her own leg", while former men's 1500m world champion Steve Cram said she had "tripped herself".
Werro herself did not know, telling BBC TV: "I was feeling great but unfortunately I don't know, something happened and then I was on the ground."
A closer look at the footage showed that Bourgoin, who had been on Werro's shoulder for much of the race, disrupted the Swiss athlete's rhythm with a slight touch to her foot with her left hand.
"The question is whether Werro is OK - it was a really hard fall," Cram said.
"But we are getting the final we wanted. That's one way to look at it."
A successful appeal by Werro means fans will be treated to a blockbuster final featuring three of the biggest names in world athletics right now - including home hope Hodgkinson.
The 24-year-old has won the past two European titles and will be hoping to defend her crown following a successful season that has seen her break the long-standing indoor 800m world record , win her first world title and improve her British record outdoors.
An added incentive for Hodgkinson will be the chance to break the longest-standing world record in athletics.
No-one has broken Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova's 800m time of 1:53.28 seconds that was set back in 1983. There have been claims that Kratochvilova's performance in Munich was assisted by the systematic doping regime that existed in her country at the time - something she has strenuously denied.
It is Werro, however, who has come closest to breaking that record.
She has run three of the nine fastest women's 800m times in history during a superb unbeaten outdoor season.
After improving to 1:53.80 seconds in June - the third fastest in history - Werro's personal best is more than half a second faster than Hodgkinson's 1:54.33.
But there will be a new contender for Hodgkinson and Werro to be wary of in the form of Broeders-Bol.
Still largely an unknown in the 800m after deciding to switch disciplines from 400m hurdles, the Dutch athlete impressed at the Paris Diamond League event in June with a time of 1:55.60.
"Femke looked as though she had another gear there but didn't use it - she didn't need to expend any more energy," Radcliffe said after Broeders-Bol finished close behind Hodgkinson in the semi-finals.
"We know Keely has the endurance, but does Femke have that endurance to bounce back for three rounds? "
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