FONTVIEILLE, MONACO, July 12 — After her big 1500 breakthrough behind Faith Kipyegon last week in Paris, Jessica Hull rightly figured that she had the fitness to take down a World Record. The rarely run 2000 became the target in Monaco’s Stade Louis II, and the 27-year-old Australian brought down the global standard to the crowd’s delight.
With a pacing team that stayed right on the wavelights, Hull followed Spaniards Lorena Martin and Esther Guerrero through a steady string of 64-second laps. Guerrero led her past halfway in 2:39.88 and then American Heather McLean took over at the front. She brought Hull past 1200 in 3:13.13 and stopped after 1500.
Hull finished well, storming ahead of the lights to finish in 5:19.70, slicing 1.86 from the standard that Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba set in 2021. In all, eight national records fell, Britain’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant taking 2nd in 5:26.09, edging the 5:26.09 of Kenya’s Edina Jebitok. In 4th, Cory McGee ran 5:28.78, chopping nearly 4 seconds off the 5:32.7 that Mary Slaney had run nearly 40 years ago.
Said Hull, “I’ve been in these races for a long time but I was never the one that was trying to do something. I embraced that to the maximum tonight.”
She added, “I definitely felt Paris’s race all week in the legs. So today the goal was just to be strong, even if my legs were very heavy. I ran at a different pace and level of fatigue than I have ever been at before. It was incredible, when I was on my own in the last lap, everyone was cheering for me. The wavelights also helped, I was just looking at the lights hoping that they don´t catch me… The last 200 was a long way; I didn’t want to let down the spectators.”
Rhasidat Adeleke displayed plenty of podium potential in the 400, running away from Lieke Klaver (49.64) and Kendall Ellis (50.39) on the stretch to win in a near-PR 49.17.
In the 5000, the pacing plan went out the window after the first 2K, rabbited by Dani Jones in 5:44.71. Instead, fans got to enjoy a tactical match, with 12 contenders together at the bell. Kenya’s Margaret Ekidor finished best, covering the last lap in 60.05 to take the win in a PR 14:39.49. Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw (14:40.44) and Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka (14:40.86) followed. Weini Kelati, without the wheels to kick with the crowd,…
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