Jessica Hull’s historic triple bid over after post-crash withdrawal
Updated ,first published
Jessica Hull’s bid to become the first Australian woman to win national titles in the 800m, the 1500m and the 5000m is over after the Olympic silver medallist withdrew from the 800m due to soreness.
Hull was due to race in the 800m heats on Saturday night, but informed officials she would not be racing after pulling up sore from a dramatic fall in the final stages of the 1500m final on Friday night.
The 29-year-old was leading the field with 60 metres to go when rival Claudia Hollingsworth attempted to move off the rail behind her and clipped Hull’s legs. The star middle-distance athlete from Wollongong fell hard on the track, and Hollingsworth went on to win.
Hull’s coach and father Simon was fuming in the stands after the race, and a protest was lodged.
Hollingsworth was later disqualified, but the 20-year-old Victorian appealed and an independent panel found she wasn’t at fault and re-instated her as the 1500m national champion on Saturday.
Athletics Australia said a request to re-run the race had been denied, but didn’t specify who had made the request. Amid reports Hull had withdrawn from the championships entirely, AA said it was still hoped she would run in the 5000m on Sunday.
Speaking after winning her heat of the 800m – and wearing a massive spike mark on her left shin – Hollingsworth said she’d had an “up and down” 24 hours, but believed the right call had been made by the appeals panel.
“You never like to see any athlete go down, but it was a fair race,” Hollingsworth said.
“Obviously [I] felt bad for what happened and I hope she’s okay. I think we all raced fairly and it was just a battle in the race.”
Asked if she had spoken to Hull, Hollingsworth said she planned to, and also indicated her rival would not be around on Sunday.
“I haven’t contacted Jess. There’s no bad blood from my end and I’m sure there’s not from her,” she said.
“We respect each other a lot and I definitely am willing to reach out for sure and make sure she’s OK. We’re both mature athletes and we both want the best for each other. So I’m really hoping to see her at the next meet, whenever that is, and race really well against each other again.”
Hull had set herself the ambitious target of winning three events at this meet, after entering the 800m, 1500m and 5000m.
That fell over when she did on Friday, but Hull was still a strong chance of completing a career grand slam in the same trio of events, and only needed to win the 800m this year, to go with multiple titles in the 1500m and 5000m in previous years. No Australian woman has ever achieved the feat.
Hull’s selection in the 1500m for the Commonwealth Games team will now have to wait. Hollingsworth’s win (and prior qualifying time) will likely see her among the group of automatic selections for the team named on Sunday afternoon.
Hull has an “A” qualifying time, but will she have to wait for selectors to name the remaining athletes using discretionary picks at a later stage. It is inconceivable that Hull would not get selected for a spot in the 1500m, given her world-class results in the last three years.
But selection in the 800m may not be as straight-forward after her withdrawal, should Hull be inclined to try and run the event in Glasgow.
Leading men’s 800m runner Peyton Craig, an Olympic semi-finalist in 2024, also faces an uphill fight to make the Commonwealth Games team after a brain fade saw him miss the final.
Cruising to a top two qualification in a sluggish heat, Craig slowed up at the line and was pipped unawares on the line by a fast-finishing Degras Amekata.
The time of the world under-20s silver medallist was not fast enough to sneak through to the final as one of two additional qualifiers.
Power pair Reece Holder and Ellie Beer claimed national titles in the 400 metres.
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Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.