Monaco; 12 July 2024 – Australian athletics enjoyed a golden night at the Monaco Diamond League as track star Jessica Hull rewrote history with a new world record.
Only one week since Paris, where she became the fifth fastest woman in history over 1500m, Jessica Hull ran with impeccable form again in Monaco, setting a new world record of 5:19.70 over 2000m.
The Australian runner won the event by a margin of over six seconds, and eclipsing the former world record of 5:21.56 set by Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba and Benita Willis’ Australian record of 5:37.71.
“Listening to the crowd and taking all of that in; I have been in these races for a long time but I have never been the one that was trying to do something. I embraced that to the maximum tonight and I was really proud of what I was doing,” Hull said.
“I didn’t really have a point in the last 500m where I was going to go from, I just trusted myself. I found myself swinging wide in the straight and I thought ‘ok, I have committed now’, so I was really proud to hold my composure in a moment like this.”
Taking second place with a time of 5:26.08 was Melissa Courtney-Bryant, a whole six seconds behind Hull, proving the Australia ready for the Olympic Games with a world record in the final race of her preparation.
“It’s all really new to me. When the start list came out, I thought that if I want to be a contender at the Olympics then this is a race that I can probably win. To think about winning the Monaco Diamond League is crazy,” Hull said.
“That world record was achievable and there’s a lot of women I compete with that can run that in their best shape. It’s going to get lowered again, 5:19 is by no means out of reach, but for this little bit of time – I’m excited to watch people chase it.”
Fellow Australian Georgia Griffith took fifth place in the event in a time of 5:28.82, also well under Willis’ former Australian record.
Watch the race replay below at the link.
