Jessica Hull’s reaction said it all.
Crossing the finish line of the women’s 1500m in second place at the Paris Diamond League on Monday morning (AEST), the Australian athletics golden girl had a look of utter disbelief and gestured as if to say, “How on earth did I do that?”.
The running champion from the NSW town of Albion Park obliterated her own Australian 1500m record by five seconds and clocked the fifth-fastest time in history, blazing through the metric mile in three minutes and 50.83 seconds (3:50.83). Her previous national record was 3:55.97.
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The winner of the race, the near-unbeatable Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, eclipsed her own world record, stopping the clock at 3:49.04.
Hull’s run enhanced her credentials in her bid to become an individual global medallist at the Paris Games next month. After finishing 11th in the final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she finished seventh at the world championships in 2022 and again at the world titles last year. She then reduced the gap further, albeit in the 3000m, at the world indoor championships in February, crossing the finish line in fourth place.
Australia’s Jessica Hull obliterating her own national 1500m record at the Paris Diamond League. Diamond League
“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.”
Kipyegon, the winner of the past two 1500m gold medals at the Olympics and world championships, took 0.07 of a second off her world record in the French capital.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon charging to victory in world record time. Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
The same Paris Diamond League saw Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh break the women’s high jump world record that had stood for 36 years. The reigning world champion took victory with a jump of 2.10 metres to take down the mark of 2.09 metres set by Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova in 1987.
Nicola Olyslagers finished second with a jump of 2.01 metres and fellow Australian Eleanor Patterson finished fifth with a jump of 1.95.
In the men’s 800m at the Paris Diamond League, the first six over the finish line put themselves in the top-20 times in history. The first three over the line — Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Frenchman Gabriel Tual — registered three of the top-five times of all time, running 1:41.56, 1:41.58 and 1:41.61 respectively.
The Diamond League circuit will stop at Monaco and London ahead of the Olympics.
The Olympic track and field program will get under way on August 1, beginning with the men’s and women’s 20km race walks.