Claudia Hollingsworth’s rise now is so rapid, so spectacular, it has moved from the surprising to the inexorable.
Hollingsworth on Saturday night broke the Oceania under-20 record for the third time in as many races.
Claudia Hollingsworth winning at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne last month. On Saturday night she broke another under-20 record and qualified for the Paris Olympics Credit: Eddie Jim
On this occasion, she shaved her time down further to 1:58.81. In fact, ignore junior records, look instead that she is now just over a second off Catriona Bisset’s open-age Australian record time of 1:57.78.
To put things in further perspective, in just the last two months her personal best has dropped 2.5 seconds, from 2.01 to 1.58. It is no coincidence this has occurred since she finished secondary school last year.
Her latest time is an Olympic qualifier but with the depth of women in the 800m in Australia – Bisset is vying for the team, Olympic 400m runner Bendere Oboya also broke the 800m qualifier in the same race as Hollingsworth in Canberra on Saturday night – there are no guarantees for anyone yet about being on the team for Paris.
Their performances in Canberra added to a big weekend for Australian athletics, which began with Nicola Olyslagers winning world indoor gold in Glasgow.
Nicola Olyslagers soars in the high jump final at the world athletics indoor championships.Credit: Getty Images
The significance of that performance should not be understated. She beat her key rival Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, the defending indoor and outdoor world champion, in an Olympic year.
To win in Paris, she will doubtless have to overcome Mahuchikh, so Glasgow provided her with a psychological edge.
Rounding out the weekend, Jess Hull broke the national 3000m record when she ran 8:24.39 seconds to finish fourth at the world indoors. The 3000m is not distance raced at the Olympics but, like Olyslagers, the satisfaction is in the strength of Hull’s performance.
Olyslagers with her performance notebook after the win at the world indoor championships in Glasgow.Credit: Getty Images
In Budapest last year, Hull realised mid-world championships she was close to, but simultaneously a long way from, the world’s best.
It was the difference between competing and contending. She was younger than the group of the world’s best 1500m runners and realised there was a gap between her and them that she needed to bridge before Paris.
Six months on, though she finished fourth, that 3000m indoor performance was the sort of strong effort that encouraged the 27-year-old to think the work is paying off. It was her second record for the distance in a month.
“It’s exactly how I envisaged it, getting on to the leader and just being there as long as I could,” Hull said of the race.
“My last 400 needs some work, but I’d rather learn that now than later. It’s OK.”
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