{"id":602109,"date":"2026-04-12T13:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602109\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:25:10","slug":"jess-hull-closes-australian-athletics-championships-campaign-on-her-terms-with-5k-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602109\/","title":{"rendered":"Jess Hull closes Australian Athletics Championships campaign on her terms with 5k win"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a disastrous 1,500 metres final where she fell and finished last<\/a>, Olympic silver medallist Jess Hull considered pulling the pin on the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She withdrew from the 800m and seemed unlikely to contest the 5,000m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But one of the biggest stars of this golden generation of Australian athletics channelled Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, deciding to do it for the kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There were kids waiting at the call room to see if I was going to go and race, and that just makes me realise it’s so much bigger than you,” Hull said after winning the 5,000m.<\/p>\n

“I’m lucky I had the [sunglasses] on because on the first lap when they were just going berserk for me, I was tearing up and I’m like, get it together. So it’s very special.”<\/p>\n

Hull and Linden Hall were jostling for the lead in the final lap, until Hull kicked up a gear in the final 200m to easily claim the title in her less preferred event.<\/p>\n

It made up in some part for the 1,500m, which ended contentiously as winner Claudia Hollingsworth was initially disqualified, then reinstated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Runner<\/p>\n

Hull fell during the closing stages of the 1,500m on Friday night. (AAP: Dean Lewins)<\/p>\n

“Emotionally, mentally, we’re all pretty tired and a lot goes into it, there’s a lot of emotion,” Hull said.<\/p>\n

“By about 4 o’clock yesterday, I was over it and I was just like you know what 5k, I’m getting out there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I don’t plan to race for another month, so I didn’t want to sit on that for a month and I just wanted to go back through the motions and I’m so glad I did.”<\/p>\n

Hull says she is still experiencing the after effects from her fall including whiplash and limited motion, which affected her mindset in the 5k.<\/p>\n

“It scared me a bit. There were some moments in that pack that were a bit dicey, and I was putting my hands out when I was going to make a move,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I wanted everyone to know where I was going. I didn’t want anyone to just clip me.”<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

While being careful not to place any blame on Hollingsworth, Hull was frustrated by the process that saw her rival ultimately handed the 1,500m national crown.<\/p>\n

“You just want a fair race. If you get beat fair and square, you can live with that, but when it gets taken out of your hands, it’s a bit hard to shut the door on it and just leave it,” Hull said.<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of us would acknowledge it’s a DQ anywhere else in the world, but it isn’t here, and you’ve just got to live with that.<\/p>\n

“It is what it is. It’s not to any fault of another athlete.”<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth ‘moving on’ from DQ then reinstatement as national champion<\/a><\/p>\n

Claudia Hollingsworth insists she ran a fair race, and wants to move on from the drama surrounding the women’s 1,500 metres final which saw her disqualified then reinstated, as Jess Hull crashed out.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old also took the opportunity to emphatically shut down reports that emerged last month, suggesting a rift between the star middle-distance runner and Australian Athletics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I have no idea where that’s come from. I am so supported by the high performance unit,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had team camps \u2026 the staff are involved. They’re part of my season planning.<\/p>\n

“I am so supported by Athletics Australia and I have been my whole career.”<\/p>\n

Caldwell, Hollingsworth contest 800m<\/p>\n

Abbey Caldwell was another of the athletes caught up in Friday’s drama and lodged a protest alongside Hull’s camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She finished third in the 1,500m, but defended her 800m title and says she blocked out the controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Caldwell\"<\/p>\n

Abbey Caldwell defended her 800m title. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

“It’s an amazing group of girls, I think we look out for each other on and off the track, and we know it can be competitive, but I think it’s a really good culture,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone just wants to focus on racing at the moment, so I think that makes a big difference.”<\/p>\n

Hollingsworth finished second, but was included in the first group of athletes officially selected for July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Celebrating her 21st birthday, she says it’s been a challenging few days.<\/p>\n

“Lots of ups and downs, but with the 800 literally the next day, I just had to focus on that and move on pretty quickly,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure I’ll have this week now to reflect on it, but the 800 was my next goal, so I just had to move on and focus on that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a disastrous 1,500 metres final where she fell and finished last, Olympic silver medallist Jess Hull considered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102435,64,63,291953,89786,8913,89788,104352,291954,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-602109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-abbey-caldwell","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-athletics-championships","12":"tag-claudia-hollingsworth","13":"tag-jess-hull","14":"tag-jessica-hull","15":"tag-linden-hall","16":"tag-national-athletics-championships","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602109","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=602109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}