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Hull, the 2024 Olympic 1500m silver medallist, is back on Australian soil after claiming two medals at the World Indoors two weeks ago in Poland, a silver in the 1500m and a bronze over 3000m.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old is one of the big drawcards for the nationals starting Thursday and fans will get to see plenty of her as she attempts to enter rare air, completing an 800m, 1500m and 5000m treble that will push her to the limits.<\/p>\n
The workload involved in the three events is exhausting but there\u2019s an added hurdle. The 5000m final will be contested just 33 minutes after the start of the 800m on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt started as a joke with Dad [her coach Simon Hull] and Daniel [her husband] and me at training in November because at this point in an Olympic cycle we\u2019re not really super specific on one event,\u201d Hull told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working on every end of my range. And in the middle of November when you\u2019re trying to get fit, sometimes you need some extra motivation. And then we joked about maybe we want to triple at Nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went away and thought about it and I was like, I actually really want to triple at Nationals. I asked Dad if he was serious and he was like, yes, if you want to do it, just try it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it came from a bit of a joke as some motivation and then turned into some actual motivation and came from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silver medallist, Jessica Hull of Team Australia, poses for a photo during the medal ceremony for the Women’s 1500m Final during day three of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 2026 at Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena on March 22, 2026 in Torun, Poland. (Photo by Dan Mullan\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hull is backing herself to achieve the feat, declaring \u201cI want to win and I believe I can. That\u2019s why I\u2019m trying those kinds of things\u201d – but her priority is bossing the 1500m.<\/p>\n
To do so she will have to beat Victorian Claudia Hollingsworth, who, like Hull, made the semi-finals in the 800m at the World Championships last year in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Oddly, Hollingsworth, who turns 21 on Sunday, has never raced against her inspiration Hull, and is embracing the chance after a breakthrough 1500m performance in Melbourne at the Maurie Plant meet has her primed to push for an upset.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne, Hollingsworth beat Britain\u2019s newly crowned World Indoor 1500m champion Georgia Hunter Bell, who defeated Hull in the Poland final, to give her a surge in belief ahead of her maiden battle with Hull.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be one of the best in the world you have to race the best in the world,\u201d Hollingsworth told Fox Sports Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I raced it really well in the sense that I was racing my own race. I was just out there confident and wanted to take on the opportunity and see how it went, and it\u2019s just not looking at who\u2019s on the start line, even though I respect Georgia\u2019s racing so, so much and respect the elite level she\u2019s at.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut beating Georgia was an incredible confidence booster just to know that I can get against the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A former Aussie Rules footy player who chose track spikes over a Sherrin, Hollingsworth\u2019s rapid rise is proving her decision a savvy one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying the challenge and the excitement of it and all the amazing opportunities that come with the sport that we do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just really working on that mental side as well. Physically training is going really well and if I can get that edge on the competition day of just being able to bring that confidence, that\u2019s really what I need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working on that, just going out there and owning my spot and reflecting on the work that I\u2019ve done. Trying in those big races to bring that mindset into races and that\u2019s been really helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claudia Hollingsworth reacts after winning the Women’s 1500m during the 2026 Maurie Plant Meet at Lakeside Stadium on March 28, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Defina\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hollingsworth is coached by Australia\u2019s 5000m record holder Craig Mottram, who started with her when she was just 12. There was clearly little iPad time in her household as a kid; her twin sister Gemma sang on The Voice and her other sister Sunday is a trampolinist and footy player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s got a very strong personality; she\u2019s very resilient, she\u2019s grounded, she has a great family,\u201d Mottram told the ABC of his young charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got an exceptional ability, physically and mentally, to perform at the highest possible level, but in doing so keeps things very realistic and has a good time doing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s shown me a lot around the development of a young athlete, keeping a balance in life, having a home life and keeping consistency with things that you love doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can do all of that and still be one of the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next step is taking on another of the \u201cbest in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t raced together yet so it\u2019s really exciting going head to head,\u201d Hollingsworth told Fox Sports Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect so much the way Jess races and I\u2019ve taken so much inspiration and belief in how strong she is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia’s Jessica Hull celebrates after competing in the women’s final 1500 metres event during the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 2026 in Torun, Poland on March 22, 2026. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
They will tangle first for medals in the 1500m with the final on Friday night at 8.19pm and that will be a battle of wills, no matter how nicely they talk about each other in the lead up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way the meet is set up, the 1500m is first and that\u2019s the priority event,\u201d said Hull.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where the internal pressure comes from as well. That\u2019s my event and the rest of the weekend it\u2019s just fun at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday sounds more like hell than fun. The 800m final will be contested in the heat of the afternoon at 12:55pm, with the athletes stepping up to the start line for the 5000m at 1.28pm.<\/p>\n
Is there a danger she will be spread too thin?<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all,\u201d said Hull.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just have a lot of trust in what my Dad sees; similar with Daniel too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they think it\u2019s a good idea and if they\u2019re confident, I\u2019m confident. We\u2019ve touched on everything in training. Half an hour, I think, given the order of things, the 800 first and then the 5K, I think that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI might completely change my mind about four laps into that 5K!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It started as a \u201cjoke\u201d but star middle-distance runner Jess Hull is giving herself a serious shot at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-594283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}