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European 800m champion Audrey Werro has backed herself to overhaul one of athletics’ oldest and most controversial world records.<\/b><\/p>\n
Jarmila Kratochvilova, representing the then Czechoslovakia, clocked one minute 53.28 seconds in 1983 and the mark has remained untouched in the 43 years since.<\/p>\n
While a systematic doping programme of athletes was in place in the country during her career, Kratochvilova never failed a doping test and has denied cheating., external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Werro, still only 22, ran 1:53.80 in Paris in June, moving up to third in the event’s all-time list and to within half a second of Kratochvilova’s time.<\/p>\n “Things have happened really fast,” said Werro, on the eve of Thursday evening’s Diamond League meeting in Zurich.<\/p>\n “I was not prepared for a world record this year. I just want to focus on running fast and winning some races and I think with this mentality the world record will fall one day. But I don’t know when.”<\/p>\n Werro, a multiple title-winner at youth level, has improved her personal best in each of her last eight seasons and is now consistently within range of the world record.<\/p>\n This year the Swiss has registered three of the 10 fastest times in history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n