Nobody in athletics has developed quite like Audrey Werro over the past 12 months.

On Thursday, the Swiss athlete headlines the women’s 800m race at the Zurich Diamond League, the very meet at which she announced herself to the world last year.

Werro, then 21, left the Letzigrund stadium in August 2025 as a Diamond League champion, only the second Swiss athlete to win the final meet of the season (after long jumper Simon Ehammer).

She had produced the performance of her young career, running 1:55.91s to finish ahead of Georgia Hunter-Bell, an Olympic 1500m medallist. In the process, she revised her own Swiss record for the third time in as many months, a progression that saw her jump from 101st to 29th on the all-time list in the same summer.

If that sounds impressive, then the Werro that will walk into Letzigrund on Thursday evening is on another level: European champion, unbeaten in four Diamond League races in 2026 (winning every one in a meet-record time), and, most notably, the third-fastest ever.

Her 1:53.80s run in Paris at the end of June is the best over 800m since Jarmila Kratochvilova set the world record in 1983. That is the longest-standing athletics world record and a mark that, in over four decades, has only been troubled by a handful of women — now Werro is a little more than half a second from it.

“It’s clear my status (has) changed from last year, some crazy things have happened this year,” she said in Zurich ahead of the race. “I’m really proud of my progression, running close to the world record this year, it’s really great.”

She has even usurped Keely Hodgkinson, the Briton who, in 2024, raced a perfect season to claim European and Olympic golds and looked unbeatable. Werro, having out-kicked her rival to win the Stockholm Diamond League at the start of June, spoiled the party for Keely on home soil in August, stealing her continental crown at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England.

“I knew I would be European champion one day,” she beamed in the mixed zone, sporting a tiara, given to her by team-mates at Belfaux, her athletics club. “I’m a bit of an 18-year-old queen, so I allowed myself to bring it.”

That smile replaced the grimace from the day before, when Werro had fallen in the semi-final. Officials advanced her to the final because video review showed that her foot clipped another athlete as they ran around the final bend.

Audrey Werro reacts after falling during her semi-final fall at the European Championships (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Unhurt and undeterred, Werro took the final to the rest of the field, running a gun-to-tape 1:54.81s for gold, smashing the European Athletics Championships record from 1982 in the process.

“I told myself that I had the best times and that I’d run many races at the front, even if there was a pacemaker,” Werro said in response to a question about the risk of her tactics, given that she effectively turned a championship race into a time trial. “I knew that I was capable of running the whole race from the front, so I decided that was my best card to play.”

Hodgkinson, processing mixed emotions, had run over a second and a half quicker than the time that brought her gold in 2024, but had to settle for silver. “There will always be competitors coming along. You don’t know when someone is going to have a breakthrough,” she said.

Based on the potential Werro showed in her youth, her rapid rise was a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. This time last year, she was finishing her studies, ready to turn professional following immense promise at age-group championships.

At the under-20 level, she twice won European gold and took a world silver medal at age 18. In July 2025, just eight days after she competed against a senior field over 1,000m at the Monaco Diamond League, Werro demolished the 800m field at the European under-23 finals, taking gold with a championship-record run of 1:57.42s.

The catalyst for her progression this year, as she keeps repeating, is more to do with life off the track than on it. “The biggest change is that I’m no longer at school. It was tough to juggle both activities,” she said in Paris in late June, after breaking her own Diamond League 800m record from Stockholm. In the French capital, she finished nearly two seconds ahead of Femke Broeders-Bol, who ran a personal best for second place — a ridiculous winning margin at elite level.

“Now, there is no excuse, as I have all the time in the world to just focus on training, recovering, and the sport itself,” Werro continued. “My transition from being a junior to a senior was very challenging.”

Audrey Werro’s potential has been evident for years (Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images for European Athletics)

She referenced the European Championships in Munich in 2022, when she came sixth in her heat and was eliminated, a race that Hodgkinson won en route to taking gold in the final. “It was really hard to find my place in the field,” Werro said.

Two years later, on her Olympic debut at the Paris Games, she went out in the heats again, fifth in a field of eight athletes. Learning to race rounds with championship tactics has taken her some time.

In March last year, at the European indoors, she cruised through the heats and semi-finals, but tripped in the final and finished sixth. Then, in the same month, she missed the podium at the world indoors by one hundredth of a second, beaten to bronze by Patricia Silva, who ran her down on the final straight.

“I’ve learned a lot over the past few years, and I’m now much better equipped tactically and mentally for competition. It’s paying off this year,” she said in the press conference before the Paris Diamond League.

She has surprised herself, too. “My time in Stockholm (1:53.98s, now fourth all-time) was incredible. I didn’t expect to achieve that this year — I thought it would happen further down the line.”

Werro’s success is a story of patience and trust. She still trains in the western Swiss canton of Fribourg, where she grew up, and opted to stay with coach Christiane Berset Nuoffer — who has trained her since age nine — instead of heading to the United States, where, based on the times she is running now, significant collegiate success would have awaited her.

On such an accelerated development curve, it can be hard to know when to let gratitude take over ambition. Werro and her coaching team structured their outdoor season with the aim of her medalling at the European Championships, and she won world indoor silver behind Hodgkinson in Poland this March — hardware that, in addition to her times, is undeniable proof of her ability.

The only thing that might get in Werro’s way is the very thing that makes her successful: long legs. She tends to be the tallest in the field, and it’s why front-running makes particular sense: to give her space to run and avoid any tangles.

With Hodgkinson a late withdrawal from Zurich — saying at the start of this week that her body is still recovering after the European Championships — there is even more expectation on Werro to deliver in front of a home crowd.

Also racing against her are Kenya’s Lilian Odira and Georgia Hunter-Bell of Great Britain, who won gold and silver at the World Championships last September. Werro was sixth in that race, another marker of her rapid improvement this year.

The biggest threat to Werro’s winning streak is Broeders-Bol, who pushed her all the way to the line last week. In Lausanne, Werro recorded her fourth Diamond League victory of 2026. The only women to win more 800m races on the circuit in one season are Eunice Jepkoech Sum (six in 2015) and Caster Semenya (five apiece in 2016, 2017 and 2018).

There’s a story behind how Werro celebrates, too. She bares her teeth and shows her nails in a playful roar. “When I was a child, my dad used to tell me (that) I have to be a lion, (that) I shouldn’t be shy and let other athletes go past me.”

Those words have proved prophetic. Nobody is going past her now, as Werro has Kratochvilova’s record in her sights. To break that on home soil and cap an already magical season would be frankly ridiculous. But this is Werro, for whom the ridiculous is now ordinary.

Greenlighting a fourth season of ‘The Robert Sanchez Experience’ always seemed a deeply questionable decision, and a universally panned premiere at Craven Cottage on Monday has pushed Chelsea to the brink of what would be a very popular cancellation.

Emiliano Martinez being eminently available at Aston Villa has changed the landscape in the final days of this transfer window. All summer the message coming out of Stamford Bridge was that Chelsea were happy with their goalkeeping options, and the hope was that Sanchez could at least be solid enough until Belgian youngster Mike Penders was ready to step up.

Instead, Sanchez produced the kind of performance against Fulham that underlined why he long ago lost the trust of most match-going Chelsea supporters, allowing Josh King’s shot to go through his hands before parrying Timothy Castagne’s shot straight to Gonzalo Garcia.

He almost conceded a third self-inflicted goal, opening himself up to an Antonee Robinson lob that mercifully drifted well wide after he had made a misguided charge into no-man’s land.

Robert Sanchez reacts to conceding Chelsea’s second goal against Fulham (Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty Images)

All goalkeepers make mistakes, and those mistakes tend to be more memorable because they more often lead to opposition goals than gaffes made higher up the pitch. Opta data reveals that over three full Premier League seasons from the start of 2023-24 to the end of 2025-26, Sanchez made seven errors leading to goals to Martinez’s six (though the Argentina international played 20 more games and almost 1,700 more minutes over that time period).

But numbers can only ever provide part of the picture. They cannot account for the audible frustration that ripples around Stamford Bridge when Sanchez misplaces a pass, misjudges a cross or dallies just long enough over a rolling ball to get himself into trouble. They cannot account for the encouragement that his sloppy or indecisive moments give to opposing players or fans, or the anxiety that they spread to the Chelsea defenders in front of him, cascading to create the overwhelming sense that something bad is going to happen.

Goalkeeping is football’s ultimate confidence game. Not just the confidence that a goalkeeper feels in themselves, but the confidence they inspire in their team-mates, in their coach and in their supporters. Once a goalkeeper becomes widely viewed as “having a mistake in them”, fair or not, it is almost impossible to recover. In that sense, even in his better stretches of form, Sanchez’s position at Chelsea has felt untenable for most of his three years as the club’s No 1.

It is a lot to ask of Penders to step into the Premier League pressure cooker at 21 and command that confidence. Martinez, a 33-year-old veteran of the last two World Cup finals and a highly regarded Premier League goalkeeper at Villa for the last six years, is not the type of character to be fazed by walking into a position that has been a problem for Chelsea pretty much ever since Thibaut Courtois pushed his way to Real Madrid in the summer of 2018.

Emi Martinez won’t be fazed by the pressure at Stamford Bridge (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Any online search for Martinez howlers at Villa yields results in a matter of seconds. His aggressive style can work against him, and his lowlight compilations did not take long to circulate among more sceptical Chelsea fans when The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the club has been offered his services. They are unflattering, but nowhere near numerous enough to be disqualifying and, unlike with Sanchez, they do not end up defining him.

He is also much more of what you might call a traditional goalkeeper, more likely to focus on commanding his penalty area than sweeping up far from it. His passing, both short and long, is solid rather than spectacular. He is not the goalkeeper you sign if you want an 11th outfielder to relentlessly bait the opposition press and take risks in order to generate rewards in possession.

Chelsea under Xabi Alonso do not need that. They need a goalkeeper who can radiate calm confidence even in the most hostile environments, who can shake off setbacks and save his team as well as the ball in the most high-stakes moments. Martinez has more often than not done just that throughout his career at Villa, helping to power their steady rise from Premier League mid-table underachievers to consistent challengers for European qualification.

Decisiveness is a good quality for a goalkeeper to have. Martinez is proactive in dealing with crosses and knows when to hold and when to attack the ball. Many of his finest career moments have come in one-vs-one situations — chiefly his sensational star jump save to deny Randal Kolo Muani a late winner for France in extra time of the 2022 World Cup final.

That was a long time ago, but Martinez conjured some of his old magic when Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra ran clean through on his goal in the 93rd minute with the score 3-3 at Villa Park in April.

He closed the distance and sank down towards the ball, while still retaining the body control to flick up his right arm and claw the Senegal international’s attempted dink out of the air. Villa went down the other end, and Tammy Abraham headed in a late winner.

Martinez also made a vital reaction stop to keep a close-range Igor Jesus effort from crossing the line as Nottingham Forest applied pressure in the first leg of a Europa League semi-final tie that Villa went on to win 4-1 on aggregate.

Those two Martinez saves were two of the more consequential moments of Villa’s run-in at the end of a season which saw them finish fourth and win the Europa League. Sanchez has also demonstrated himself to be very capable of impressive shot-stopping but, as he enters the fourth season of his Chelsea career, it is hard to recall a single intervention which had such a positive impact on his team’s chances of success.

His volatility has an unfortunate tendency to surface when Chelsea most need security from their goalkeeper. Martinez, in contrast, has a proven track record of rising to big occasions and a personality which, while often provocative, wins him the belief of his team-mates.

That is half of the battle for any goalkeeper at this level, and marks ‘Dibu’ out as a clear upgrade.

Christos Tzolis has been a breath of fresh air in his first five weeks at Arsenal.

The 3-0 home win against Coventry City on Friday may have only been Tzolis’ second competitive appearance in red and white (or first, depending on how seriously you take the Community Shield), but his driving dribbles are already getting fans of the Premier League champions excited.

That constant willingness to make something happen in the final third has been a defining quality of the 24-year-old Greece international’s career.

A product of the PAOK club’s academy system in his hometown Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, Tzolis was just 18 when the pandemic hit in March 2020. He had scored 19 goals in 23 games for PAOK’s under-19s, but his momentum was halted.

When football returned post-lockdown that summer, first-team manager Abel Ferreira and his staff were blown away by the aggression with which Tzolis carried the ball towards goal, combining directness with technical quality. Despite not being particularly tall, he was already physically strong, and the combination of all these attributes gave PAOK’s coaches the confidence to give him his senior debut, against domestic giants Olympiacos, in the Greek Super League’s title play-offs that June.

“We had already identified him as an above-average talent with the under-19s, to the point that he would occasionally train with us,” Carlos Martinho, an assistant coach under Ferreira at PAOK, tells The Athletic.

“The Covid break ultimately proved to be a decisive factor, as it allowed him to start training with us every day on a systematic basis. During that period, he gave us clear signs that he was at the same level as the more experienced players. So, when the league resumed and we named him in the starting XI, he didn’t feel the pressure. He handled it naturally because he already felt like a first-team player and an option for us.

“Without that forced ‘pre-season’, perhaps his breakthrough would not have been so quick and evident.”

A teenage Tzolis’ first senior start would also come against Olympiacos a couple of weeks later in the Greek Cup semi-finals. PAOK lost 4-3 on aggregate, but would win that competition with Tzolis’ help the following season — a campaign that began with a statement personal performance.

“During Champions League qualification against Besiktas, seeing that young player, whom we had just promoted two months ago, score two goals and assist another was unforgettable,” Martinho says of a 3-1 second qualifying round win.

Tzolis bent a right-footed shot into the far top corner for his first goal after seven minutes before making a beeline to celebrate with the bench. His second, for 2-0 after 24 minutes, came from being in the right place at the right time for a left-footed finish inside the six-yard box. Within half an hour, he provided a first-time, left-footed pass across the six-yard box similar to his one for Bukayo Saka to score against Coventry on Friday, which made for an easy finish for Dimitrios Pelkas (PAOK’s opposite winger and team captain).

“Christos has a very strong competitive mentality and followed every instruction we gave him,” Ferreira tells The Athletic. “He was one of the players we worked hard to develop, and he never stopped improving. Congratulations to him, his parents, the academy coaches and PAOK for believing in and investing in him.

“Today, we’re seeing the results. It doesn’t surprise me at all that his name is now at Arsenal.”

The now 24-year-old’s inner drive seems to have made just as lasting an impression as those driving runs.

“Off the pitch, at first, he was shy and more reserved,” Martinho says of Tzolis, “but as soon as training started and he realised that we counted on him, he transformed. It was fascinating to see how that shyness disappeared as soon as the ball started rolling, and he showed all the attacking aggression and focus that make him the special player he is today.”

Former Newcastle United and Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul crossed paths with the forward at Norwich City — his first big move to England. Tzolis signed for promoted Norwich for £10million in August 2021, aged 19, after one full campaign in senior football, during which he was named PAOK’s player of the year and Greek Super League young player of the season for scoring 16 goals and assisting 10 more.

“I have very fond memories of Christos,” Krul tells The Athletic. “We always had a good laugh. I tried to learn some Greek words on Duolingo and came up with some random stuff that he appreciated.

“Coming to a different country at 19 is not straightforward. I’ve been around a lot of talented players, and it is about how you deal with setbacks. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a successful stint at Norwich for anyone involved, but for him to go out on loan in the Netherlands and Germany, then move permanently to Belgium, shows his pedigree and willingness to not shy away from doing the hard yards.

“It shows real mentality to come through that, leaving your home town and friends so often.”

Tzolis scored twice on his Norwich debut, a 6-0 Carabao Cup thrashing of Bournemouth, but started only three times among 14 league appearances as they went straight back down to the Championship. Life at Carrow Road was made easier by the presence of Dimitris Giannoulis, a fellow Greek and former PAOK team-mate.

The following summer there was a loan to Dutch side FC Twente, which was unremarkable stats-wise, before Tzolis rediscovered his scoring touch on a further loan at Fortuna Dusseldorf of the second-tier 2. Bundesliga, with 24 goals and eight assists in 2023-24.

Tzolis spoke about the need to find his confidence at that time.

“He was the right player at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Krul says, “because going into the Premier League was too soon for him, physically and mentally. If you are in a team that is not dominating all the time but is more counter-attacking, you need players around you to get out, but he always had three defenders around him.

“But I can’t praise him enough for his work ethic. He always stayed back to practise free kicks and shooting. We had a lot of fun with those free kicks. He would miss quite a few, but if he scored one, he’d celebrate like he’d scored 20 in a row.”

Those extras after Norwich training proved extremely beneficial for his future clubs, and could help Arsenal even more this season.

Of his 29 assists in 52 all-competitions games for Brugge in 2025-26, nine were from set pieces (eight corners, one free kick) and, while Declan Rice has resumed corner duties since rejoining the squad after his post-World Cup break, Tzolis was a regular-enough taker during the summer friendlies for the team who scored more set-piece goals (25) than any other in the Premier League last season.

Manager Mikel Arteta also got a sneak peek of the culmination of years of behind-the-scenes practice that started back in Greece and could further elevate his side in north London during Tzolis’ Premier League debut.

When breaking through at PAOK under Fereira, there was a heavy emphasis on Tzolis making diagonal runs off the ball. Extensive work was done with him, both from the wing into central areas and from the latter back out wide — which was present against Coventry, when he found Saka in the box after drifting infield from the left wing.

“Christos has always been a very direct and vertical player in his actions,” Martinho says. “We tried to make the most of the fact that he is strong with both feet and worked a lot on his reading of the game in transition moments, where he is extremely strong too.”

As well as possessing the willingness to work to improve as a player, Tzolis’ human qualities left a mark.

Those who know him at PAOK speak of someone who was extremely focused and professional, while in more personal settings, Krul adds: “He was a very laid-back but funny boy.

“He was always very clever and loved football. He was big on fantasy football, even then. He breathes football and knows everything about all the players and teams. I also saw a clip of him getting his goodbyes from Club Brugge with the whole stadium applauding him. That says a lot, because to be able to walk back to a club through the front door doesn’t happen very often.”

Asked about Tzolis captaining himself in fantasy football, which most Arsenal fans found out about after he claimed an assist for Saka’s goal against Coventry in a post-match interview, Krul adds: “That’s the humour he’s got.”

Five years after his first English adventure, it finally seems like he is now at the right place at the right time.

“He’s an example for a lot of young talents in the new generation,” Krul says. “Even if you’ve been touted as a world-class talent, sometimes it takes time to fully reach your potential. And he’s still not there yet, but for him to make this step to Arsenal is a massive testament to him, and I’m over the moon for him.

“He’s a very clever boy, so he’ll keep his feet on the ground and continue to do the hard graft because he knows he’s not there yet. Knowing him, he’ll work harder to get to the next level.”