- Jessica Hull breaks the national record of 1,500 m
- Hull hopes for an Olympic medal in Paris
- He beat several highly acclaimed runners.
Australian runner Jessica Hull broke the Australian 1,500m record and beat a host of talented competitors to seal her credentials as a medal contender at the Paris Olympics.
Hull, 27, reclaimed the Australian 1,500m record by finishing second to Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji in three minutes and 55.97 seconds in the Eugene Diamond League.
Among the runners who remained after Hull were the American Elle St Pierre, third classified, and the British Laura Muir, silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics.
Australian Linden Hall, whose national record was broken by Hull, was 12th in 4:01.97.
Hull (pictured) beat a host of talented runners and broke a national record in the US on Sunday.
The Australian star is fighting for an Olympic medal in Paris later this year.
“It is a great injection of confidence for Paris,” he said.
‘I was very consistent last year with 3:57 and that took me to seventh place in Budapest (at last year’s world championships).
‘If I look at the landscape of the sport and see the times where I would need to win a medal, I need to be consistent in those mid to low 3:50 seconds.
“So getting a 3:55 on the board today gives me confidence and I think we’ll find a little bit more throughout the season.”
Elsewhere, Australian Commonwealth 1500m champion Ollie Hoare said the field for the Bowerman Mile was stronger than that of an Olympic final and the race lived up to expectations.
Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen looked like the man to beat, but Kerr was the strongest in the final 600 meters, winning in 3:45.34, breaking Steve Cram’s 39-year-old British mile record in the process.
Hoare held onto ninth place in 3:49.11, making him the fourth Australian to fall below the Olympic qualifying standard for the metric mile.
Teen star Cameron Myers, who placed 11th in Eugene, national record holder Adam Spencer and Stewart McSweyn also have Olympic qualifications and Jesse Hunt is very capable of doing the same.
Hull said his performance is a great confidence boost ahead of the Games.
But only three of them will be on the starting line in Paris.
National record holder Catriona Bisset did no harm to her chances of clinching the only remaining Australian Olympic spot in the women’s 800m by finishing sixth in 1:58.44.
British star Keeley Hodgkinson scored to take the win in 1:55.78.
Kenya’s Chebet took victory in the women’s 10,000 meters with a time of 28:54.14, breaking the previous world record of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey three years ago.
A world silver and bronze medalist in the 5,000m, the victory qualified Chebet to compete in the 10,000m at the Paris Olympics.
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay was second in 29:05.92 and Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk was third in 29:26.89.
Chebet rarely competes in the 10,000 meters, having not raced in the event since 2020.
‘For Paris, I’m going to double. But my goal is to run 5,000 first and then 10,000 second,” he stated.
“Because this is the first 10,000 meters outside the country that I have run and I am very happy to break a world record.”
American sprint stars Christian Coleman (9.95) and Sha’Carri Richardson (10.83) won the 100-meter races in Eugene.
