Australian Athletics Championships: Jessica Hull shrugs off pressure to claim 1500m title in Perth
It may have been a “strange race” by her own admission, but Jessica Hull has maintained her reputation as a middle-distance superstar by claiming the Australian Athletics Championship 1500m title.
Hull, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist in the 1500m, started slowly as the race unfolded at a sluggish pace, but kicked with 400m to go to create some separation.
Sarah Billings (second), Georgia Griffith (third) and Linden Hall (fourth) stayed with her, but Hull answered every question they posed down the home straight to claim the national crown at WA Athletics Stadium.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Her time of 4:11.40 was a good 20 seconds off the Australian record she set in Paris last year, but Hull said she was just pleased to prevail.
“Very strange race. I think in my mind, I probably thought Linden (Hall) would take up the running, and experience suggested that,” she said.
“But in the first 200, she was boxed in on the rail pretty deep. I was like ‘ok, it’s not going to be Linden and I don’t think anyone else is going to go, so just buckle up for the last 400.’”
Hull said she could feel her rivals breathing down her neck on the last lap and heeded the call of her dad and coach Simon to continue to shift gears.
“When you go from a little bit further than 400 to go, you just really have people ask questions of themselves, it’s a long way to sprint,” she said.
“I wanted to make people either commit or run for second and at the top of the straight, I heard dad say I had to use my gears, and they’re all there.
“So I hit it again with a hundred ago and if you keep hitting it when people are coming at you, it’s really discouraging to them.”
Hull arrived in Perth after competing in Jamaica less than a week ago; despite admitting she had not felt great before her heat on Friday, she said the experience had been educational.
“I learned a few days ago in Jamaica, I can actually trust my speed. I probably thought up until that point, I was the one that had to make the go,” she said.
“I just had to hold my nerve out there. I’ve got so much experience that I just backed myself to be the most composed among the tension in that pack, because it was so tense: I could feel it out there.
“I was very nervous, really nervous for this one but I feel like this is the hardest race we run all year, so I was just trying to tell myself that was normal.”
