Jessica Hull obliterates her national record to claim second at Paris Diamond League meet ahead of Olympics

Australia’s Jessica Hull is the fifth fastest 1500m runner in history after a stunning performance which has stamped her as an Olympic title contender.

Australia’s Jessica Hull is the fifth fastest 1500m runner in history after a stunning performance which has stamped her as an Olympic title contender in a month’s time.

Incredibly, Hull took more than five seconds off her national record, clocking 3min50.83sec in finishing second behind reigning Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon who set a new world record of 3:49.04sec.

Australians featured prominently in the two world records which fell at the Paris Diamond League meet with high-jumper Nicola Olyslagers finishing second (2.01m) behind Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh extraordinary new world record mark of 2.10m.

For Hull it was the way she attacked the race, being the only competitor to chase after Kipyegon which further cemented her medal credentials for the Olympic Games.

“It’s so fresh but I did just see the all-time list and to see my name in fifth is nuts,” Hull said. “The whole point of the way I have trained this year is to put myself in a position to medal in Paris. That goal doesn’t change, I just have to stay healthy and do it on the day that matters – August 10.

“I was a little kid with an Olympic dream and I grew up wanting to go to the Olympics. I didn’t think 3:55 would ever be possible, so to be thinking about breaking 3:50 now is insane.”

Jessica Hull pushed Kenya's Faith Kipyegon to a new record time. Picture: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP

Originally from Albion Park, near Wollongong in NSW, Hull was a star on the US college circuit at the University of Oregon before emerging as one of Australia’s greatest middle-distance runners, claiming national records at 1500m, the mile, 3000m and 5000m.

The 27-year-old made the 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics finishing 11th while she was placed seventh at last year’s world championships in Budapest.

But Hull is a different athlete this season, having focused on the second part of her races which has given her the confidence and belief to serve it up to Kipyegon with the Kenyan considered almost unbeatable in recent times.

She set her previous career-best and Australian record of 3:55.97sec in May at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

“Having grown up watching Faith and then competing against her on the circuit, I have always believed in what she was doing and to get so close to her today is mind-blowing. She was the first one to humanise these times for us girls,” Hull, who only lost contact over the final 200m, said.

“I said to myself that I’m basically running a 1100m race today, and if I get further, then I get further.”

Fellow Australian Linden Hall also produced the fastest run of her career, leading much of the chase as she claimed fourth place in the star-studded field with a time of 3:56.40sec.

The performance of Olyslagers is a crucial confidence boost ahead of the Olympics considering she was forced to change her competition schedule last month and return home to deal with an ankle injury.

Olyslagers, the silver medallist in Tokyo three years ago, said she had gained inspiration from her long-time rival Mahuchikh’s achievement.

“It wasn’t just Yaroslava’s victory, it was women’s high jump history which is all of our victory. Once you see somebody do it once, it opens the door,” Olyslagers said.

“She is an amazing competitor and friend, and to see her do that, she has given me the key to aim for. 2.10m is still the goal for me, so to see her do it inspires me even more. It doesn’t discredit or discount the work I’m doing; it just shows that it’s possible.”

Australia’s 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson nailed a first-attempt clearance at 1.95m to lock up fifth place.

In the men’s 3000m King Island’s Stewart McSweyn showed he was peaking at the right time with a front-running display to finish second (7:29.45sec) behind back-to-back world championships 5000m medallist Kenya’s Jacob Krop.

Another significant performance for Australia was the return of pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall who hasn’t been sighted since badly injuring his ankle at the national championships in April.

The world championships bronze medallist made a first attempt clearance at 5.75m before deciding to retire from the event after one attempt at 5.85m but there was no fresh concern reported, more a precaution.

Originally published as Jessica Hull obliterates her national record to claim second at Paris Diamond League meet ahead of Olympics