Australian distance runner Jessica Hull (© Getty Images)
In a magnificent solo run on the final day of the Australian Championships in Brisbane, Jessica Hull won her third title in succession in the 5000m, a win that was as comfortable as her victory over Abbey Caldwell, Linden Hall and Georgia Griffith in the previous day’s 1500m was nail-biting.
Australia’s depth in women’s middle-distance, underlined with the bronze medal in the mixed relay at the World Cross, has been apparent at recent championships with Linden Hall and Hull Tokyo Olympic finalists, Abbey Caldwell a bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games and Georgia Griffith going close to four minutes in Diamond League competition.
Two laps into the women’s 1500m final these four had taken over. Hall was the first to move, opting for a long run for home to blunt the speed of the other three. Hull led at the bell, Caldwell took over briefly along the back-straight and then Hull burst clear over the last 200 metres and withstood a renewed challenge from Caldwell.
A sub-60-second final lap took Hull to the win in a championship record of 4:04.19 from Caldwell’s 4:04.68. Hall (4:05.65) got the better of Griffith (4:07.85) on the final straight.
It was Hull’s first national 1500m title. “It’s the first time I’ve attempted (the 1500m),” she said. “The stars haven’t aligned before.”
With her subsequent 5000m triumph in 15:05.87, Hull’s home summer season highlights reel now includes the relay bronze medal, a win over Caldwell in similar manner at the Melbourne Continental Tour Gold meeting, an Oceania record victory in the national 3000m title and now a rare double at the full championships.
Callum Davies achieved the same double as Hull, adding the men’s 5000m gold (13:52.83) to his 3:37.92 win in the 1500m.
Catriona Bisset won her fourth consecutive 800m crown with an all-the-way championship record of 1:58.32, a full two seconds clear of Ellie Sanford.
In the shorter events, Rohan Browning and Michelle Jenneke produced the highlights.
After a 10.18 heat and 10.17 semifinal, Browning rode a perfect start all the way to a 10.02 (0.0) in the men's 100m final. It was just a hundredth of a second outside Browning’s best and only a whisker more off a sub-10. Several events had seen the trackside timer out by a few hundredths of a second, but not this one.
“I was hoping it would round down,” said Browning but, referring to his consistency through the domestic season, he added: “I think I’ve finally had a major break-through.”
Jenneke, meanwhile, continued her domestic dominance of the sprint hurdles to win in 12.77 (-0.1m/s), finishing 0.15 ahead of Celeste Mucci.
"I think that was my fifth World Championships qualifier and I got the win at nationals, so that means I’ll go to Budapest and that’s very exciting,” said Jenneke. “I think there is more in the tank though and we’ll see what we can do later on in the season.”
Joel Baden and Brandon Starc were high jump teammates at the Rio 2016 Olympics, but have followed divergent trajectories since, Starc from strength to strength, Baden languishing largely in the doldrums.
Baden may be on the verge of reversing his fortunes this season. He came into the competition off a 2.33m clearance at his Victorian state championships. Each man stared defeat in the face in Brisbane before Baden produced a final-attempt clearance at 2.32m to win. He had also produced a last-gasp effort to stay in the contest at 2.29m, a height Starc cleared first time to take a lead he could not hold.
New Zealand’s 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney continued her return to her best, winning the women’s pole vault with a first-time clearance at 4.75m. Kurtis Marschall won the men’s event with 5.80m but abandoned the contest after his pole shattered at his first attempt at 5.90m.
Mackenzie Little’s 61.46m was enough to defeat dual world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber’s 57.05m in the javelin, while Matt Denny, who is working his way through some technical changes under the guidance of new coach Dale Stevenson, won the men’s discus with a best of 63.20m.
Torrie Lewis, who took the 100m title on Saturday as first Australian behind the winner, Veronica Shanti Pereira of Singapore, showed maturity beyond her years in winning the 200m outright.
Len Johnson for World Athletics
Van Niekerk wins in Potchefstroom in 44.17
World record-holder Wayde van Niekerk produced his fastest 400m run in six years to win at the South African Championships in Potchefstroom.
The 2016 Olympic champion, who in recent years has spent many months on the sidelines rehabbing from a career-threatening injury, looked to be back to his imperious best as he blazed around one lap of the track in 44.17. World U20 champion Lythe Pillay was second in a PB of 44.80.
The last time the 30-year-old ran faster than this was when he successfully defended his world title in 2017. He returned to sub-45-second form in 2021 and 2022, but he missed out on the Olympic final two years ago, and placed fifth at the World Championships in Oregon last year.
Multiple world and Olympic finalist Akani Simbine successfully defended his 100m title in Potchefstroom. He clocked a season’s best of 9.98 in his heat, then improved to 9.92 (0.6m/s) in the semifinals before winning the final in 10.14.
Elsewhere, Miranda Charlene Coetzee won the women’s 200m and 400m double in PBs of 22.74 and 51.04.
Zeney van der Walt (54.82) and Sokwakhana Zazini (48.95) were comfortable winners of the women’s and men’s 400m hurdles finals.
