TOKYO -- With 200m left to run in the women's 1500m final at the world athletics championships, Jess Hull looked as if she was about to throw down a major challenge to triple Olympic gold medalist and raging race favourite Faith Kipyegon. About 30 seconds later, after the superstar from Kenya had vanished in front of her down the home straight, an exhausted Hull stumbled across the finish line. It wasn't the win the Australian had desperately been craving, rather a brilliant, brave bronze. And not for a single moment of the show-stopping final did her trademark wide smile ever leave her face.
It was both glorious déjà vu and sweet redemption for Hull on Tuesday evening at Japan's National Stadium. Her third place finish earned her another trip back to a major international podium, following that career-defining silver medal at the Olympics in Paris last summer. It also made amends for the prior Games in Tokyo, where, as a highly talented but unfinished 24-year-old prodigy, she finished 11th in this very arena.
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Like Swedish megastar Mondo Duplantis in the men's pole vault 24 hours earlier, when Kipyegon competes, she rarely departs without the gold medal hanging around her neck. After all, she is unquestionably the greatest 1500m runner in history, and once again she showcased her prowess at the tricky distance as the crowd in Tokyo roared its approval.
Kipyegon eased her way to the front of the pack in the early stages, then expertly controlled the pace. When Hull began stalking her on the final lap, she seemingly flicked the turbo switch, powering away from her, and the other 10 competitors. Kipyegon stopped the clock in a time of 3:52.15, and before compatriot Dorcus Ewoi had crossed the line for silver, already appeared fresh enough to return to the start line to do it all again.
"I knew Jessica is a strong athlete, and also the rest of the athletes are strong," said Kipyegon, shortly after pocketing her latest gold medal. "This is a championship. It's anyone's race. I'm so happy my tactics worked, seeing that I won was very happy for me."
A determined Hull fought off a spirited lunge at the line from the third Kenyan in the race, Nelly Chepchirchir, to hold onto third by just 0.09s and finally secure a world championship medal, having settled for a pair of seventh place finishes in both Eugene (2022) and Budapest (2023). She becomes the first Australian to ever medal in the event at the world championships.
"I just kept reminding myself to stay in it," said Hull, who will also contest the 800m in Tokyo, beginning with the heats on Wednesday evening. "I was looking at the back of [Kipyegon] and then I felt Nelly coming up. I'm really proud."
Hull's bronze at the world championships continues a purple patch for the Australian middle-distance star. Of course, last year was highlighted by that memorable Olympic silver at the Stade de France, but Hull also set the world record in the 2000m and later posted the fifth-best time in history in the 1500m. This year, she's been a mainstay on Diamond League podiums all around the world.
Her consistency in this event should not be undersold. After all, outside Kipyegon and her otherworldly talent, the 1500m arguably sees more turnover at the top than any other event in track and field competition.
Take the men, for example. We've seen five different winners in the event at the past five world championships. More bewildering is that both 2024 Olympic champion Cole Hocker and 2020 Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen won't contest Wednesday evening's final, neither will Australia's own 13th-ranked talent Cameron Myers, who failed to advance from the heats.
Hull was where the good news ended for the Australian contingent on night four in Japan's capital.
At the top of the program, Peter Bol, the nation's record holder in the 800m, finished a disappointing fourth in his heat and failed to progress to the semifinals. Only the top three in each race, plus the three runners with the next best times moved on. The 31-year-old's mark of 1:45.15 ended up being the fourth-best of the non-automatic qualifiers. Bol famously fell agonisingly short of an Olympic medal in this race, at this stadium, when the Games were held in Tokyo four years ago.
Reece Holder was also a casualty of the night, finishing his 400m semifinal third in a time of 44.63s, just 0.09s short of his personal best. Like Bol, Holder fell just short of owning one of the two best non-automatic qualifier times after the three semifinals had been completed.
Here's how night four of the World Athletics Championships unfolded: