Jessica Hull selected for Olympic debut

20 August 2020

Jessica Hull selected for Olympic debut

The Australian Olympic Committee today announced the selection of five Australian athletes for the Tokyo Olympics, including NSW 23-year-old Jessica Hull (BAN). She had earned automatic nomination to the team courtesy of her win in the 2020 Australian 5000m Championship and selection trial in February. She had also achieved the required standard for nomination.

“It’s incredible,” Hull said from Stockholm last night. “It’s exciting to reach your childhood dream. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It gives me goose bumps to think about it, although we have to wait an extra year, it will be just as special.”

Christian Malcolm, Head of Performance & Coaching at Athletics Australia congratulated the athletes on their selection.

“It is fantastic to have our first group of track and field athletes selected for the Tokyo Olympic Games Team after an extremely difficult time for world sport and the Olympic Games,” Mr Malcolm said.

“Whilst we look forward to a stream of athletes being selected closer to the Olympics it is exciting for Kelsey, Stewart, Dane, Jess and Jemima to be the first athletes selected.”

Chef de Mission Ian Chesterman welcomed the athletes to the Australian Olympic Team.

“Congratulations to these athletes on earning their spot on the Team for the Tokyo Games,” Mr Chesterman said. “Each of them has shown what outstanding athletes they are, and we are excited to add our five track and field athletes to the Team, as athletics is always such an important part of every Games.

“Having moved beyond the original dates of Tokyo 2020, the full focus shifts to being ready for 23 July next year. On being told of their selection all five athletes have been positive that they can focus fully on the challenge ahead, to allow them to be at their best for the Games.

“This is a challenging time for athletes and sports across the world, but this is a day to celebrate for the athletes, their families, coaches, supporters, friends and the athletics community who have helped them reach this milestone.

“I also want to thank Athletics Australia for its work with athletes from the community level to the champions named to the Olympic Team for Tokyo today.”

However Hull could potentially be in a dilemma when the final team is announced in July 2021 as she also has a 1500m standard, the event she contested at the 2019 Doha World Championships. Unfortunately the double is not possible in Tokyo, forcing Hull to decide. You would have expected she would lean more towards the shorter distance, but her dominant performance last weekend in the Monaco Diamond League over 5000m probably evens up the decision.

In Doha last October, she missed the 1500m final by just 0.28 seconds. In that race, the semi-final, she clocked 4:01.80 which was a personal best and was the fastest ever non-qualifying time for the final at a world championships or Olympics.

Her performances over 1500m and 5000m have stamped the South Coast distance runner as the leading star of Australian distance running. A promising teenager, she has developed into a world class middle-distance runner, going from fringe national team member to now our leading 1500m and 5000m athlete in a whirlwind last 18 months.

After starting her athletics journey in school running cross country, she joined Albion Park Little Athletics Centre. Her father, Simon, who in his day was a national level middle-distance runner, carefully guided his daughter’s development, building a foundation with meticulous planning.

After school she studied at Oregon University completed a degree in Human Physiology major (Psychology and Sports Business minors). She was a surprise NCAA (US college) 1500m champion in 2018 and over the next year added podium finishes indoors, in relays and cross country. Just three weeks after she graduated in June 2019, she destroyed her 1500m personal best time at Stanford running 4:02.62 to become the fourth fastest in Australian history and qualify for the Doha world championships and Tokyo Olympics. She raced a few times in Europe, including a stunning 15:00.32 5000m in Berlin – the third fastest in Australian history and fastest by an Australian for 13 years. In her senior international debut in the Doha humidity at the 2019 World Championships, she was very competitive and just missing the final.

Largely now based in America, in February 2020 she returned to Australia to compete in the national 5000m which doubled as the Olympic trial. She coasted to victory over one of the best domestic fields ever assembled. The win secured automatic nomination to the Australian Olympic team. After the race she travelled back to America, but as coronavirus hit, she returned to her home on the South Coast. She initially trained on a treadmill in her 14 days isolation but has since been exploring new spots to run to keep mixing things up. One was a beautiful local fire trail at the top of Jamberoo Mountain Road.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Images: Jessica Hull