After a painful fall in the 1500m ended her medal hopes, Jessica Hull could have called it a day. The Olympic silver medallist skipped the 800m to reset, unsure if she was ready to race again. Instead, she showed why she remains one of Australia’s toughest competitors, winning the 5000m national title in 15:13.21 at Sydney Olympic Park. And she wasn’t about to walk away just like that.

“It happens, and it’s like, you just want a fair race. If you get beat fair and square, you can live with that, but when it gets taken out of your hands, it’s a bit hard to sort of shut the door on it and just leave it. You know, I think a lot of us would acknowledge it’s a DQ anywhere else in the world, but it isn’t here, and you’ve just got to live with that, and it is what it is,” she said, referring to the controversial 1500m where Claudia Hollingsworth was initially disqualified before being reinstated.

The women’s 1500m final at Sydney Olympic Park descended into chaos with about 50 metres to go. Jessica Hull was in the thick of the medal race when she was clipped in a crowded sprint finish, sending the pack into turmoil.

A frame-by-frame review later showed Claudia Hollingsworth’s knee making contact with Hull, causing her to lose balance and fall hard on the home straight. Jessica Hull got back up to finish the race, but her medal hopes vanished in that instant. In the end, the medal was given to Hollingsworth. But Hull’s father and coach, Simon Hull, immediately reacted after the fall, saying:

“We’re not copping that,” and calling it a “robbed” moment. Soon after, a protest was lodged, which led to the DQ of Hollingsworth, but that decision was later overturned after review, and Hollingsworth was reinstated as champion.

 

Three years ago, Jessica Hull made a bold move that changed everything. The Australian runner returned home to train under her dad again. Many wouldn’t mix family and professional life, but for Hull, it felt like coming full circle. Simon Hull had guided her through her early teenage years. Now, she has blazed to silver in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games, one of the biggest indoor races on the calendar.

Just a month earlier, she anchored Australia’s mixed relay team to gold at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Florida, her first-ever world title. Now, the faith in their partnership is stronger than ever. After Jessica Hull hit the track face-first in that wild 1500m sprint finish, she felt so battered she skipped the 800m entirely on Saturday. But Sunday morning’s 20-minute jog flipped the script.

Jessica Hull grabbed dad and coach Simon for a quick huddle. They greenlit her for the 5000m start line at Sydney Olympic Park. Previously, few bought into her bold 800m-1500m-5000m triple chase that weekend. What kicked off as an off-season joke with coach Simon turned real fast, just a week in.

“I asked Dad if he was serious, and he was like, ‘Yeah, if you want to do it, let’s try it, it’s the year to do those kinds of things.’”

Hull, however, made it clear there was no lasting tension between the athletes involved:
“It’s not to any fault of another athlete, or it’s racing. It happens. It’s not their fault, but you’ve got to live with it, and yeah, we’ll all be better from it, and you learn a lot as you go. I think you guys saw us put it to bed about 10 seconds post the finish line. By the time she came up to me, I was in a bit of shock as to what had happened, but she apologised then and there. That’s all I could ask,” she said.

“She earned it, and you know you move on. We’re going to line up against each other for a long time now and her coming through makes me better. I’ve set the bar for her to get to. In turn, I think we’ve both improved.” For Hull, the focus quickly shifted to recovery, but her body and mind were still carrying the impact of the fall during the 5000m race.

Jessica Hull finds strength in young fans after controversial fall

After the controversy of the 1500m final, Jessica could’ve easily stepped away from the rest of the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney. But that changed the moment she spotted the next generation of talent watching her from the stands.

“From the moment I was in the call room, there were kids waiting to see if I was going to go and race, and that just makes you realize it’s so much bigger than you,” she said. “It’s everything for them… I’m not a 5k runner anymore, so when you get into those moments, I was like, there are so many kids here that just care and keep digging in…”

Despite the emotion, Hull still had to reset quickly and prepare for a very different kind of race just hours later. In the women’s 5000m final, she returned to the track and delivered a strong performance to win the national title in 15:13.21. She stayed controlled through most of the race before lifting hard in the final stages, pulling away from the field in the last lap and edging Linden Hall, who finished close behind in 15:15.33.

But even in that race, she was experiencing the aftereffects of her fall. “It scared me a bit. There were some moments in that pack that were a bit dicey, and I was putting my hands out when I was going to make a move,” she said. “I wanted everyone to know where I was going. I didn’t want anyone to just clip me.”

Even with those concerns, Jessica Hull managed to hold her nerve in the closing stages, timing her final surge perfectly to secure the title and close out a difficult but emotional day on a high note.

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