- Jessica Hull breaks national 1,500m record
- Hull hopes for Olympic medal in Paris
- She beat several highly acclaimed runners
Australian runner Jessica Hull broke the Australian 1,500m record and beat many talented competitors to confirm her credentials as a medal contender at the Paris Olympics.
Hull, 27, reclaimed the Australian 1,500m mark by finishing second to Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji in three minutes 55.97 seconds at the Eugene Diamond League.
Among the runners left in Hull’s wake were American Elle St Pierre, third, and Britain’s Laura Muir, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics.
Australia’s Linden Hall – whose national record was broken by Hull – finished 12th in 4:01.97.
Hull (pictured) beat a host of talented runners and broke a national record in the United States on Sunday
Australian star targets Olympic medal in Paris later this year
“It’s a great confidence booster for Paris,” she said.
“I was very consistent last year with a time of 3:57 and that got me seventh place in Budapest (at last year’s world championships).
“If I look at the landscape of the sport and the times I would need to medal, I have to be consistent at those 3:50.
“So getting a 3:55 today gives me confidence and I think we’ll find a little more throughout the season.”
Elsewhere, Australian Commonwealth 1500m champion Ollie Hoare said the field for the Bowerman Mile was stronger than that in an Olympic final and the race was up to par.
Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen emerged as the man to beat, but Kerr was the strongest over the final 600 meters winning in 3:45.34, bettering Steve Cram’s British mile record of 39 years.
Hoare held on for ninth place in 3:49.11, which made him the fourth Australian to go under the Olympic qualifying standard for the metric mile.
Teenage star Cameron Myers – who finished 11th in Eugene – national record holder Adam Spencer and Stewart McSweyn are also qualified for the Olympics and Jesse Hunt is very capable of doing the same.
Hull said her performance is a great confidence booster ahead of the Games.
But only three of them will be on the starting line in Paris.
National record holder Catriona Bisset took her chance on the only vacant Australian Olympics berth in the women’s 800m without damage by finishing sixth in 1:58.44.
British star Keeley Hodgkinson took the win in 1:55.78.
Kenya’s Chebet took victory in the women’s 10,000m in 28:54.14, beating the previous world mark of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey three years ago.
A world silver and bronze medalist in the 5,000m, this victory allowed Chebet to compete in the 10,000m at the Paris Olympics.
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay was second in 29:05.92 and Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk third in 29:26.89.
Chebet rarely competes in the 10,000 m, having not run this event since 2020.
“For Paris, I will double. But my goal is to handle 5,000 first, then 10,000 second,” she said.
“Because it’s my first 10,000m outside the country to run, and I’m so happy to set a world record.”
American sprint stars Christian Coleman (9.95) and Sha’Carri Richardson (10.83) won the 100m races in Eugene.
