LONDON, UK: Jessica Hull recently broke her own Australian and Oceanian records in the mile but finished second at the Diamond League meet in London.
The athlete, who won a silver medal in the Olympic mile, was hopeful when Gudaf Tsegay ran very fast at the start, but when Hull got close, Tsegay sped up even more and won the race easily, setting a new national record with a time of 4 minutes 11.88 seconds.
Hull admitted, “I had a lot of distractions, but was just trying to zone into the leader in the second half, but it was a solid run.”
Although she finished second, Hull found consolation in lowering her own Oceanian mile record to 4:13.68.
The athlete added, “Coming in, we were thinking I could run a national record, and I did. I would have liked to have been a little closer to 4:10, but I felt very strong for 4:13… A lot of records fell today, so it was a pretty special to be a part of that race.”
In front of 60,000 spectators, she and high jumper Eleanor Patterson both took second place, while Rose Davies, who also set new national and Oceanian records in the 5000 m, placed third. Despite not gaining the top spot, it was a strong and memorable event for Australian athletes.
On social media, netizens expressed their support for Hull: “So stoked for her. She gives it her all and is a great competitor”, “Absolutely brilliant!!”, “She shows up every single race”, and “Brilliant! Amazing! Incredible! 🏃🏼♀️👏🏻😀.”
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Tournament highlights
Davies finished third with a time of 14:31.45, just behind two Ethiopian runners, Medina Eisa, who finished with a time of 14:30.57, and Fantaye Belayneh, who had a time of 14:30.90. Her time was more than nine seconds faster than her old national record of 14:40.83, which she set in China last April.
With this, Davies expressed: “I was ready for a big race and felt like I responded to the challenge today… My expectations were a PB (personal best), and I have achieved that, so I am really pleased.”
Moreover, Georgia Griffith came fifth with a new personal best of 14:32.82, also beating the old record. Former world champion Patterson was also surprised that her 1.93-metre jump was enough to win silver. British athlete Morgan Lake took first place with a jump of 1.96 metres.
Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred broke her own record for St. Lucia by running the fastest 200m time in the world this year—21.71 seconds. Australian runner Torrie Lewis wasn’t able to keep up and finished last with a time of 23.05 seconds.
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