It started with an off-hand joke and could end with Jess Hull cementing herself as one of Australia’s greatest middle distance runners.
But standing in the way of a history-making weekend for Hull is a highly anticipated showdown with a rising Aussie star and a jammed-pack schedule that will, in the final stages, require her to race in two finals with just 30 minutes rest in between.
Hull’s challenge will unfold at the Australian titles in Sydney this week, where the 2024 Olympic silver medallist is one of many marquee stars looking to lock down spots in the national team for the Commonwealth Games later this year.
Beginning at Sydney Olympic Park on Thursday and ending on Sunday with another 200m duel between Gout Gout and Lachie Kennedy, the meet will also feature world-class athletes Peter Bol, Nicola Olyslagers, Nina Kennedy and Cam Myers.
Some believe this is the strongest national titles ever staged.
Hull is not only one of the biggest headline acts, but the 10-time national champion has set herself a challenge that could even steal some of the limelight from Gout: she will attempt to win titles in three different events – the 800m, 1500m and 5000m.
Such a treble has never been done before, and for good reason. While Hull and others often run in two events, adding a third equates to a leg-sapping schedule. Unlike the straight-final 5000m, the 800m and 1500m have qualifying rounds just to make the final.
So to pull off her historic haul, Hull will have to run in six races in four days, often with very tight turnarounds. On Sunday, she will have just 32 minutes rest between the 800m and 5000m finals, should she make them.
Hull said the crazy idea “started as a joke” at training last year with father and coach Simon and husband Daniel.
“At this point in an Olympic cycle we’re not really super specific on one event … and in the middle of November when you’re trying to get fit – sometimes you need some extra motivation,” Hull said.
“I went away and thought about it, and I was like, I actually really want to triple at nationals. About a week later I asked Dad if he was serious, and he was like, ‘Yeah, if you want to do it, let’s try. It’s the year to do those kinds of things’. So it just kind of came from a bit of a joke.”
Hull, in fact, only has to win the 800m to claim a rare piece of Australian athletics history.
If she wins that final the 29-year-old will become the first woman to win national titles in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m in their career. Hull has four wins apiece in the 5000m and 1500m, dating back to 2020.
But Hull says she is aiming to win all three at the one meet this week, and along with an intense training regimen built to run strongly across multiple rounds at major championships, she says she is in good shape heading into this year’s nationals. Hull won silver and bronze at the world indoor championships last month, in the 1500m and 3000m respectively.
“It’s not an unrealistic thing to try based on the way we train,” she said.
But she’s not the only one in good shape. The greatest obstacle to Hull’s historic treble comes in the shape of rising young Victorian star Claudia Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth, who turns 21 on Sunday, won her first 800m national title in 2024 as an 18-year-old and made the Olympic semi-finals later that year. She won the 3000m national title earlier this year and two weeks ago stunned British star Georgia Hunter-Bell to win the 1500m at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne.
Hull finished second to Hunter-Bell at the world indoors in Poland last month, and after Hollingsworth opted to focus on the 1500m this year, she and Hull will finally square off in Sydney. Ironically, Hull added the 800m to her schedule, and they will also clash over that distance.
“We have never raced, but I’m super keen and excited. I really respect Jess, and can’t wait to get out there together and see how we go,” Hollingsworth said. “Competing with the world indoor champion, Georgia, was amazing, and I just really wanted to go out there and show my form and prove my fitness. It does give me a bit of confidence, but every race is different. Jess is on another level again.”
Hull said the tight turnarounds don’t bother her, and with the blue riband 1500m race done and dusted by Friday night, the other races will be “fun”.
“We sort of saw in Tokyo when I was having fun I was running really well and I was running pretty free,” Hull said.
Running in the 800m as a side mission after her 1500m bronze, Hull made the final of the World Championships last year, and broke the national record (1.57.15) in the semi. She took the record off Hollingsworth, who’d set it just a month earlier.
Hull said she’d be up to take on the treble at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July as well “but I think I’m gonna have to pick one or two”.
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Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.