- The Australian overtook his rival in the final stretch and sealed the result
- The medal was the first for Australian women on the Olympic track.
Jessica Hull has become the first Australian runner to win an Olympic 1500m medal, finishing a sensational second behind legendary Kenyan Faith Kipyegon at the Paris Games.
Hull, 27, was in third place with 100 metres to go but was able to overtake Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji in the final straight to take silver in three minutes 52.56 seconds, her second fastest time.
Kipyegon won her third consecutive Olympic 1500m title in 3:51.29 on Saturday, while Britain’s Georgia Bell came home with bronze.
It was the first time an Australian woman had won an Olympic medal on a track longer than 800m.
Since returning to Australia full-time a year ago, Hull has been coached by her father Simon, a former national-level middle-distance runner.
Prior to that, she resided in Oregon and was trained by Pete Julian.
Hull made two major breakthroughs last month, raising expectations that she was ready to win a medal on the biggest stage of all.
First, she shaved five seconds off her personal best and moved up to fifth on the 1500m all-time list by finishing second in 3:50.83 at the Paris Diamond League, behind Kipyegon, who broke the world record.
Hull (center, with American Nikki Hiltz, left, and Kenya’s Susan Lokayo Ejore) was elated after winning silver in the final 100 meters of the race early Sunday morning Australian time.
Hull (pictured celebrating) became the first Australian woman to win an Olympic medal in a race over 800 metres.
The 27-year-old’s run gave Australia its seventh track and field medal of the Paris Games, the second-best effort in green-and-gold Olympic history.
The following week, she broke the 2000-meter world record in Monaco, further fueling her belief that she was ready to make the step up from regular world finalist to Olympic medalist.
The New South Wales runner finished 11th in the 1500m final in Tokyo and seventh at the two most recent world championships.
It was Australia’s seventh medal in athletics at the Paris Games, the second most in the history of the Games, behind only the 12 medals won on home soil in Melbourne in 1956.
Edwin Flack (1896) and Herb Elliott (1960) are the only Australians to win Olympic 1500m titles.